1-2kgs of abuse (gaali) keeps me fit: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in his elements on Wednesday at Westminster Hall in London, regaling the audience with anecdotal evidence of his accomplishments and struggle in life.

The NRI audience lapped up the nuggets and succumbed to his charm; but this was against a very contrasting picture back home where he is gaining a reputation for dodging the mainstream English media and is being rather uncharitably compared with the ‘wooden’ Dr Manmohan Singh.

Otherwise the speech was full of inane banalities and illustrations which he has cited time and again in different fora. The questions too were scripted – as a part of the orchestrated PR event at a time when his popularity is at a perceived ‘low’.

As is characteristic of him, he boasted that days of incremental change are over. The need of the hour is to make development a mass movement, he added, but did not elaborate as is customary. The most profound statement came when he was asked about his health regime and Yoga routine. Modi said almost in zest: "I digest 1-2kgs of abuse (gaali) every day. I never get tired. For me my 1.2 billion people are my family. I care for them like my family, serve them like my own." What came as a revelation was his remark that Pakistan was informed about the September 2016 surgical strikes before the information was made public in India. On the day the Indian press was informed about the Army's surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, top officers of the military were busy trying to establish contact with their Pakistani counterparts, PM Modi said. "We called them [in order to tell them about the surgical strikes] but we they weren't coming [on the calls] [so] I kept the journalists waiting," Modi said, referring to a September 29, 2016, press conference that was called by the Army. "I told my

officers keep the journalists waiting. First [we will] tell Pakistan [about the surgical strikes], we don't want to hide [the information]," the prime minister said. "Finally at 12 pm we spoke to them [Pakistan] and then we told the Indian media," he added. The PM was responding to a question on the surgical strikes.

With multiple rape cases of minor girls sparking nationwide outrage, Modi said there should be no politics over the issue. He said it's painful when a small girl is raped. "A rape is a rape. How can we tolerate this exploitation of our daughters? "But can we compare the number of rapes in different regimes? We cannot say there were these many rapes in our government and that many in yours. There cannot be a worse way to deal with this issue," he said.

Modi also said that his life at the railway station was about his personal struggles and the person in the Royal Palace in London was the 'Sevak' (servant) of 125 crore Indians.

Earlier, he met Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace ahead of his Westminster Hall address on Wednesday. He also paid tributes at the bust of Basaveshwara (12th-century Lingayat philosopher) at Albert Embankment Gardens in London.