In the absence of Vajpayeeji, Advaniji could teach Modi a lesson or two in tehzeeb: Sibal

A couple of days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hit out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said Modi should get a few lessons in 'tehzeeb' (etiquette) if he desires to be taken seriously. In an interview with The Indian Express, the minister said "the BJP leadership should be charged with guilt by association and in the absence of Vajpayeeji even Advaniji could teach him a lesson or two".

Sibal, who earlier held the charge of the HRD Ministry, said, "My only regret is the use of an academic institution as a platform for a national political launch. It does not augur well for academics." He was referring to the speech of Modi at Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University.

"The mantra of development of which Modi is a self-anointed poster boy is also suspect. Other acts that suggest a mission is the building of the Modi brand — Modi masks, Modi bags — symbols of a cult. Television channels also got into the act. I cannot imagine all this happening without the use of enormous money power. How else can you explain all television channels covering a speech in a college where certain favoured persons are influential? Narendra Modi is trying to gather wind with the help of spin doctors, in an era when perception matters more than reality," Sibal said.

Referring to Modi's address in the BJP national executive where he had compared "the commission-seeking" Congress and the government as "termites" and Prime Minister as "nightwatchman of the Gandhi family", the Union Minister said, "Modi talked of 'mission and commission'. He presided over a state that brooks no dissent...that discriminates without compunction. The termites of a sick state reflect a sick mind eating into the vitals of the body politic...a subversion of democracy. The mission was to raise the spectre of engineered threats. Some of the police officers could well be described as the 'commission' agents."

... contd.

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