"Firebrand leader", "magnetic speaker", "dedicated pracharak" after being called all this and more, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has now donned a new, and perhaps unexpected, mantle: that of a poet.
MUMBAI: "Firebrand leader", "magnetic speaker", "dedicated pracharak" after being called all this and more, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has now donned a new, and perhaps unexpected, mantle: that of a poet.
Even Vice President Bhairon Shekhawat, who released Modi's first anthology of poems -- "Dhanya Aa Aankh Chhe" (My Eyes Are Blessed) -- at a packed function in suburban Vile Parle last night, expressed surprise at the chief minister's latest offering.
"When he (Modi) called me asking whether I would release the book, I thought he was joking. I didn't know he had written poems," Shekhawat said.
"In fact I had my doubts whether he could even write or not. But when I heard the poems, I was pleasantly surprised."
The poems, all written in Gujarati, have the central theme of nature, its beauty and destructive power.
"People ask me how I can be chief minister and still write poems, but I ask them am I not human? I am not a piece of furniture. I also have feelings," Modi said.
"When there were floods in Surat, I experienced the fury of nature and that is what prompted me to write these poems."
Later, speaking to reporters, Modi agreed that his image as a poet seemed contrary to his public persona as a tough-talking chief minister but said this was not true as he had always been interested in literature and poetry.
"My life has always been one of struggle and that is what my poetry is about. Since childhood I was interested in the creative aspect of writing. My poems reflect that," he said.
During the programme some of Modi's poems were sung by singers Roop Kumar Rathod, Bhupinder and Parthiv Gohi.
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