Narendra Modi knows how to get your attention, and keep it too. In his speeches before he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014, and in the initiatives he launched as the PM, he has often dropped intriguing play on words. While the focus of his government is ‘P2G2’ (Pro People Good Governance), Modi has emphasised he would like to address the ABCD culture of the Indian bureaucracy. ABCD? Avoid, Bypass, Confuse, Delay.
As PM Modi completes two years in office, here’s looking at 5 Creative Acronyms in Two Years, or CATS.
Straight From the Heart
PM Modi seems to have a soft corner for puns, and heritage conservation. Not necessarily in that order. So when a programme was launched ‘to preserve the heritage character of each Heritage City’, it was named ‘HRIDAY’, which means ‘heart’. With the idea to develop a love for the heritage inventory of a city, the heart is probably in the right place. The wordplay? Definitely exaggerated.
Poetry in Metres
Don’t jump to conclusion, but take baby steps towards appreciating this artful acronym. When discussing the future of India’s relation with China, PM Modi said that every inch the two countries cover can rewrite history of humanity and every mile will go a long way in making this planet a better place. No, this is not about invasion of land by forces on either side, just a friendly reminder of how friendly the two countries are, as friends. The “awww” quotient is way too high.
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A2Z of Foreign Relations
B2B has been around as a corporate jargon, but trust PM Modi to reinvent stuff and turn it into a brand. Bhutan was the first foreign trip of Narendra Modi, after becoming the Prime Minister. The agenda of the visit was to display “special and unique” status for Bhutan, and PM Modi dubbed the bilateral relations as ‘B2B – Bharat to Bhutan’. Time to move over Taher Shah’s Eye2Eye, this is the real deal.
Through the Looking Glass
This has depth, or at least virtually seems so. When PM Modi visited Japan, he emphasised the Make in India initiative by claiming that India offers the best investment opportunity, because it offers ‘3D’. Look closely, here it means democracy, demography and demand. The Prime Minister has often repeated this terminology while talking about Make in India, so you get surround sound with 3D. Cinematic indeed.
Words of Worth
This is master-level stuff. Hence the name, probably. Narendra Modi launched a skill development scheme, focused on the minority communities, under which ‘unskilled and skilled weavers would get training to compete with the weaving industries across the world’. The programme is called ‘USTTAD’ in the memory of late Ustad Bismillah Khan, the shehnai maestro. ‘Ustad’ also means ‘teacher’. Trust the PM to weave such magic with his words.
Narendra Modi’s love for acronyms extends to his name too. Though he has a perfectly short surname – Modi, he has gained enough popularity on the ‘NaMo’ moniker. It’s perhaps a symbolic expression of how PM Modi loves to keep it short, but impactful. A few may disapprove, and try to look away, but the attention has been stolen.
Are there more Modi acronyms or puns that you would like to add here? Share your feedback in the comments below.
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