Fasting firsts

Now Narendra Modi has attached a set of protocols to his touring fasting circus. Once the Gujarat chief minister discovered the expedient of the fast as a calculated device to attract an audience,taking after fellow politicians and anti-politicians who routinely abstain from food or threaten to,before mass gatherings and TV cameras,he had to struggle to bring his prejudices and preferences in line with the somewhat universal demands of and expectations from someone staging such a public show. His refusal,once of a skull cap and on another occasion of a kaffiyeh from two Muslim men,was the kind of awkward moment his fast planners would have hated to contemplate. After all,wasnt Modis sadbhavana mission billed as a wounded states leap into innocence regained?

Why Modi did what he did,well perhaps never know for sure. However,he wouldnt like a repeat. That much is certain,given the rather elaborate list of dos and donts issued by his office. This will effectively preclude the chances of a skull cap,a kaffiyeh and,yes,even a shawl from landing on the CMs head or lap,without prior clearance from security and designated party leaders. Question: what happens if a skull cap-bearer is,indeed,cleared to approach Modi on the dais?

Yet,partymen have been asked to rope in as many business,social and religious leaders as possible to Modis fasts hereafter. Surely,some of them,or all of them,would sometime desire proximity to the detoxing CM? Theres more: ministers must not repeat speeches and must not bore the crowds with long ones. Since this season of fasts and mock fasts is all about the audience,how can their comfort not be of primary concern to the fasting powers-that-be?