Delhi Confidential: TONGUE TIED

At the I-Day function held at the Supreme Court, most guests came after attending the main function at Red Fort. Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi began his speech at the Supreme Court by saying that there was “no point” delivering a speech after the “speech of the year” had been delivered. He was referring to the extempore speech delivered by PM Narendra Modi.

ON WAR FOOTING
The Defence Ministry was caught by surprise last weekend when PM Narendra Modi sought a presentation on the arrangements for the I-Day. Such a request had never been made “in the last 11 years at least”, according to a South Block staffer. The PMO apparently gave only two hours notice for the presentation, though it got extended by another two hours. The ministry pressed a Brigadier-rank officer into action to prepare the presentation that was made last Saturday. The PM is said to have been pleased with the preparations. A direction was later sent out to secretaries of all ministries to ensure that everything went as planned.

Weather Watch
A lot of guests had complained about the heat during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in function at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Possibly learning from that experience, the President’s Secretariat seemed fully prepared to meet weather contingencies at the ‘At Home’ function on Friday. Piles of umbrellas were seen kept ready at various points on the lawn.

LIGHTS, CAMERA
It pays to hold important posts in a state-run broadcaster. Or, so it seemed when, during the live coverage of PM Narendra Modi’s I-Day speech from Red Fort, the camera innocuously panned on to some senior Doordarshan officials, giving them live footage worth a few seconds. The officials knew about the camera movement and greeted it with broad smiles. Many watching the live coverage were left intrigued after seeing I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar standing up and taking notes while the speech was on.