New Delhi: In the political arena they are fierce rivals working relentlessly to dethrone one another. One doesn’t miss an opportunity to call the other “corrupt” and “fascist”, among other things. But otherwise they are believed to be “good friends”. In an interview to Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee sends personally-selected kurtas and sweets to him. “Mamata didi saal me aaj bhi mujhe ek-do kurte wo khud select karne jati hain” (Even today Mamata didi herself selects one or two kurtas for me in a year), he said.
“I have many good friends in the Opposition. We do eat food together once or twice a year. A long time back, when I was not even chief minister (of Gujarat), I had gone to Parliament for some work. There Ghulam Nabi Azad and I were having a friendly conversation. When we came out, the media people asked how can you be friends with Azad as you belong to the RSS. Ghulam Nabi gave a good answer. “Hum dono saath khade se, bola dekho bhai bahar jo aap log sochte ho, aisa nahi hai. Shayad ek family ke roop me hum log jitne jude hue hain sabhi dal ke log, wo shayad bahar kalpana nahi kar sakte... (While we two were standing, he said that what you people think outside, it’s not like that at all. Maybe the way we people of all the parties are connected as a family... it can’t be imagined outside),” Mr Modi said in the interaction.
“Mamata didi saal me aaj bhi mujhe ek-do kurte wo khud select karne jati hain... She sends one or two kurtas for me. Even Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sends sweets to me three-four times in a year especially from Dhaka. When Mamata didi got to know this, then she also sends sweets for me one or two times in a year,” he said.
Interestingly, Ms Banerjee has mostly been critical about Mr Modi and the BJP-led NDA government, and openly opposed various initiatives like the Goods and Services Tax and demonetisation.
Ms Banerjee had even termed Mr Modi as “Hitler’s uncle”, and referred to him as “expiry babu”, while Mr Modi retaliated and called Ms Banerjee “speedbreaker Didi”.
Meanwhile, author-columnist Twinkle Khanna on Wednesday took Mr Modi’s comments on her criticism of him on the social media in a “positive” stride, saying she was glad he was not only aware of her existence but also her work. Mr Modi talked about Khanna’s critique of his policies on Twitter in an interview with her husband, actor Akshay Kumar. The PM joked Kumar must be leading a relatively “peaceful” life at home since Khanna vented all her anger against him on Twitter.
“I keep tabs on social media to know what is happening in the world. I also keep an eye on yours and Twinkle Khanna’s Twitter accounts. The way she vents her anger against me, your family life must be quite peaceful. She would take out all the anger against me. You must be at peace. In a way, I feel I have helped you, especially in Twinkleji’s case,” Mr Modi told Kumar in Hindi.
Khanna was quick to respond to the quote from the interview shared on the BJP’s official Twitter account. “I have a rather positive way of looking at this — not only is the Prime Minister aware that I exist, but he actually reads my work,” she tweeted.
Later in the interview, billed as “candid and completely non-political”, the PM also recalled meeting Khanna’s maternal grandfather, entrepreneur Chunnibhai Kapadia.
