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Updated January 26th, 2020 at 20:26 IST

INSIDE President's At-Home: Goyal's Davos Diary, IMF's politics, Bengal's 'Sandesh' & more

The President's At-Home was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday following the grand Republic Day parade, with a number of dignitaries attending

Reported by: Digital Desk
At-Home
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The President's At-Home was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday following the grand Republic Day parade, with a number of dignitaries attending. Here are snippets of the fare on offer.

GOYAL’S DAVOS DIARY

FRESH from Davos where he attended the World Economic Forum (WEF), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal debunked all reports emanating from the Swiss village on sentiment of gloom around Indian economy. Speaking on the side of President’s At-Home, he said to the contrary that everyone saw India as a ray of hope with all bad news having bottomed out. He asked the hacks present to believe these reporters only if they were written by those who met more global CEOs then him during the jaunt. According to Goyal he met as many as 60 top corporate honchos with none mentioning about CAA protests, and only one asking about the Andhra Pradesh government’s tinkering with the state capital. “The kind of policy continuity we have provided and the immense amount of trust they have in judiciary, everyone at Davos was of the view that India story is intact, and we are looking at a turnaround by April,” Goyal said. The Minister was apparently mobbed for meetings by the CEOs, and the back to back meetings did not give time for a loo break as well, contrary to the narrative that India was being discounted this year at Davos.

READ | Why the Indian Air Force's 5-component 'Cutting Edge' Republic Day float is a gamechanger

IMF IS POLITICAL

Narrating how he was mobbed for meetings by global CEOs with his back to back meetings not allowing even a loo break, Goyal recounted how he punctured the IMF claims of India being a drag on global economy. IMF’s Indian-origin chief economist Gita Gopinath had remarked recently that 80% drag on global economy came from India’s sluggishness. Goyal said he showed back of the envelope calculations to IMF chief Kristilina Georgieva that India’s contribution to the recession is not more than 10 per cent, in line with rest of the world.

“We are rockstars of global economy if we carry that weight,” Goyal said. The Minister got support from an unlikely quarter at the same lawns of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Engaging separately with journalists after the formal ceremony was over, Former PM Manmohan Singh seems to have suggested that IMF forecasts have political element and to that extent might be discounted. “IMF also takes into consideration sensitivities of the countries from where the board members come,” Singh said when asked why the IMF estimates on Indian and global growth were off the mark by as much as 2 percentage points.

READ | Republic Day: Smiling water droplets escort 'Jal Jeevan' tableau of Jal Shakti Ministry

MANMOHAN SINGH REMAINS RELEVANT

It was little surprising for hacks the way former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saw a rush of guests towards him at the President’s At-Home. Accompanied by his wife Gursharan, Singh was seen sitting for the longest time, even engaging with guests after the official entourage of the President and the Prime Minister had left along with chief guest Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. During the formal ceremony he sat next to former Vice President Hamid Ansari who was seen confabulating with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We don’t know if CAA-NRC was discussed though.

BRAZIL PRESIDENT A HIT

Chief Guest for the 71st Republic Day, President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was a hit with the guests at President’s At-Home with a rare selfie rush getting directed towards him. As is customary, the President takes around the guest through the attendees and it was a rare occasion to see Bolsonaro getting stopped for selfies. Not comfortable with English, he was accompanied by an interpreter who was translating even pleasantries like ‘Hope you had a good time?’ before he could respond.

PM REMAINS FAVOURITE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains popular as ever going by the rush for selfies. Even the well turned out At-Home crowd was not adulation proof as they tried to vie for his attention and competed to get their picture. Even the security has come to understand this, for while they were seen preventing selfies with the President, no one stopped when Modi did the round amid all the pageantry.

READ | Trump Pulled Back As America Stood in Splendid Isolation on Iran

BENGAL AT AT-HOME

While a lot of hue and cry was made on the exclusion of Bengal’s tableau this year from the Republic Day parade, with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee crying conspiracy and bias against her state, the chefs at Rashtrapati Bhawan made sure that some of the heartburn was addressed. The menu of At-Home included ‘Sandesh’ as a dessert thus salvaging some Bengali pride at the 71st republic day celebrations.

HI-TECH AT REPUBLIC DAY PARADE

IT seems some bits of the 71st Republic Day parade went hi-tech this time. The booklet with detailed explanation of various parade formations and the tableaus was exchanged for digitized presentation on i-pads. As the parade marched past the VIP box on Rajpath in the morning, President Ramnath Kovind, chief guest Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were seen holding i-pads in their hands. The content was presented in easy font in both English and Hindi, and for the benefit of the foreign chief guest in Portuguese as well.

 

READ | What If Mahatma Gandhi Was A Central Banker Today?

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Published January 26th, 2020 at 20:26 IST

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