As the resignation shenanigans raged in New Delhi, Narendra Modi, as the new chairman of the BJP’s election campaign committee, was already getting down to business and exploring new ideas to connect with the people.
In his address at a forum as innocuous as the All India Conference on Livestock and Dairy Development, the Gujarat Chief Minister imbued his speech with visceral symbolism — he called upon every village to donate pieces of iron from their tools to help construct a statue of unity in Ahmedabad as a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India, popularly called the ‘loh purush’ (Iron Man) of India.
Through this appeal to the millions of farmers, Modi was making a pan-national appeal to unite the country. “We need iron to commemorate the iron man and that too iron used in farming, because after all Sardar Patel was the son of a farmer,” Modi said.