(Image via intoday.in)
After the return of over 4 Padma awards, 12 national awards and 40 Sahitya Akademi awards by eminent writers, filmmakers, historians and other intellectuals, the “Rising Intolerance” campaign finally came to an end when Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan joined the award-wapasi brigade and turned in his Padma Shri award.
The minute NDTV’s ticker flashed news of the development in the early hours of Sunday, delirious celebrations broke in the 7RCR war room set up a few weeks ago to track the campaign in real time.
“This is the moment we all worked so hard for,” said Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu amidst rapturous applause, even as a teary-eyed Modi group-hugged Rahul Gandhi, Rajdeep Sardesai, Nayantara Sahgal and various other key participants of the operation.
“Where is my star performer?” boomed Modi, breaking off the hug. His gaze swept the room before zeroing in on Raghuram Rajan. “There he is! A round of applause for Raghu!” he exclaimed, prompting another round of cheers.
“If it wasn’t for Raghuram Rajan and to a lesser extent Narayanamurthy joining the rising intolerance campaign, it would not have got the legitimacy it needed. Raghu’s speech in IIT-Delhi calling for tolerance may well have been the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Venkaiah Naidu.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi then took to Twitter to make the announcement. “I congratulate the people of this country for this stupendous achievement. Goes to show that if a nation’s government and its people decide to work together, no goal is out of reach,” he tweeted.
Analysts have hailed the operation as one of the finest examples of public-private-people partnerships. “Good planning, great execution. Full marks to Modi and team,” said writer and analyst Sadanand Dhume. “With this, I hope we can finally put to rest one of the biggest questions befuddling Indians in the 21st century: Why did Saif Ali Khan get the Padma Shri?”
Later in the day, leaders from across India’s political spectrum and eminent intellectuals from a wide range of fields made a beeline to 7RCR to attend the celebratory dinner hosted by Prime Minister. In a moment for the ages, some of the Prime Minister’s staunchest opponents including Sonia Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar gave him a standing ovation as he made his appearance at the party.
“Who said we cannot work with the government? When it comes to the nation’s interests, we can put aside our differences to work with our PM and that is exactly what we have done here,” said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
Even Mani Shankar Aiyar grudgingly praised the PM. “Not bad for a chaiwala,” he said generously.