NARENDRA MODI WORLD’S BEST ORATOR

‘NARENDRA BHAI HAS ALWAYS HAD A COMMANDING PERSONA’ - Japan Pathak Journalist
Even today I remember parts of his speeches, given that they used to be so high octane and we know Narendra bhai, he has always had a commanding persona. I listen to his speeches regularly but what I heard in those cassettes as a youth left a permanent mark on my memory. In one of the speeches, he asked the audience “Do you remember the names of 20 MPs from your region?” So people came up with a few responses. Some could recollect one name or two names but did not remember names of MPs from long ago.

‘I HAVE LEARNT IMPORTANCE OF ‘TYAAG’ FROM NARENDRA BHAI’
Well, I learned the importance of “tyaag” from Narendrabhai. He laid great emphasis on the spirit of devotion, social service and sacrifi ce. There is another memorable excerpt from one of his speeches. He said “When you have food, do you wonder who manufactured the plate for you, the bowl and the spoon? Wonder who produced the raw material required for the making of these items. All this was transported too, so there was someone who drove the truck.

AUDIO CASSETTES OF MODI’S SPEECHES A HIT AMONG ABVP WORKERS IN 90s

The release of Modiji’s audio cassettes used to be a big event for us! All the students of Vidyarthi Parishad would collect together to listen to his recording. That was not a digital era and cassettes with recordings of Modiji’s speeches used to be recorded. Parag Naik, who is in Maninagar, used to get the cassettes to us. Students would get in big groups and listen to his speeches very intently. They used to be so powerful being the great rhetor that he is, and his words would leave an indelible imprint on the listeners’ minds.

Even today I remember parts of his speeches, given that they used to be so high octane and we know Narendra bhai, he has always had a commanding persona. I listen to his speeches regularly but what I heard in those cassettes as a youth left a permanent mark on my memory. In one of the speeches, he asked the audience “Do you remember the names of 20 MPs from your region?” So people came up with a few responses. Some could recollect one name or two names but did not remember names of MPs from long ago. Next question “Do you remember the names of the last 20 MLAs of your region?” Nobody could remember. Then he asked “Do you remember the names of past 20 ministers of various departments?” No response. Modiji then said “You don’t remember names of MPs, MLAs and ministers but can you ever forget the names of saints and other great personalities who lived 200 or 300 years ago? You remember Ramkrishna Paramhans, Mirabai, Bhagat Singh, Subash Chandra even today- but why do you do so ? What did they do?” Then he would say ironically “They only sacrificed themselves. Is that anything great? Why don’t you remember those who reaped the benefits of the sacrifices of these noble people?”

Well, I learned the importance of “tyaag” from Narendrabhai. He laid great emphasis on the spirit of devotion, social service and sacrifice.

There is another memorable excerpt from one of his speeches. He said “When you have food, do you wonder who manufactured the plate for you, the bowl and the spoon? Wonder who produced the raw material required for the making of these items. All this was transported too, so there was someone who drove the truck. Someone must have built the engine for the truck. Someone must have grown the food for you. A blacksmith in some faraway village would have built the tools!

You are born in a hospital that was built because someone donated towards its creation. Someone has paid the fees for the doctor’s education who is now treating you and somebody paid for his scholarship. Now if there is electricity in the operation theater, someone must have got the coal for its production and someone must have driven the train to supply the coal. So this implies, we all are connected. And whenever you do something for the society, it cannot be termed as samaj seva. It is your payback to the society, and even if we devote our entire life for the welfare of our society, we would not be able to repay our society for what it has done for us.

Narendra bhai had a white Maruti car and he used to love driving it. The backseat of the car was always occupied. Who was the permanent occupant of his car? Books. A whole lot of books were always placed on the rear seat of his car. I used to be curious and would peep into his car to see what books he was reading currently and carried along with him. Narendra bhai stayed at a doctor’s bungalow in Gujarat colony for a while and that time too I observed his car laden with books. His speeches were proof of his erudition and of the fact that he was a voracious reader.

Priyakant Parikh’s 75th book was released by Narendra bhai. The event was a big hit and it is considered to be one of his most famous speeches and was loved by people. And I used to record his speeches in the audio cassettes at that time. Even today I have several rare records of his speeches with me which are not documented any where. So it was Priyakant’s wish that the 100th book too be released by Narendra Modi. But when his 100th book was ready and the event for its release had been finalized, he met with an accident. It was a minor accident but because he was aged, he got bed-ridden. Now he knew that it would not be possible to go ahead with the book release at the scale it had been planned. But Narendra bhai kept his promise. He had committed to releasing the book and he did it in Piyakant’s drawing room in presence of his family and neighbours. This event became a story, almost a legend in the literary world!

Once trucks carrying relief material had to leave from RSS headquarters in Gujarat after the Latur earthquake in Maharashtra. I too went to RSS office like all swayamsevaks and the speech that Narendra bhai delivered was such a piece of such inspiring oratory that I can never forget the impact it had! Giving a biblical reference, he cited the example of Daniel who left his place to serve the people of another city and heal their suffering. He spoke about how Daniel himself underwent pain while serving his people. It was one of the most eloquent speeches by Narendra bhai and the effect was such, the swayamsevaks who were in the audience that day, as soon as the event ended came up requesting to be sent to Latur to serve their brethren! Such is the effect of Narendra bhai’s words on his listeners! TO BE CONTINUED...

COMPILED AND EDITED BY SHASHIKANT SHARMA AND SHWETA SHARMA