And it happened at Day 1 Agenda Aajtak 2014

Agenda Aajtak: Hindi Jagat Ka Mahamanch is back!!!

I reported at the event at 9:30 a.m at Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. After collecting the delegate badge, I walked in the room. People from India Today Group, dressed chic and smart looked all set for the show that was supposed to start at 10. The stage instantly caught my attention. This year it wasn’t lavish but creative and appealing. I quite liked everything Green about it. The star anchors Rajdeep Sardesai, Rahul Kanwal, Punya Prasoon Bajpai, Anjana, Shweta, Gaurav could be seen sitting in the front rows. The atmosphere buzzed with energy and I sat smug looking forward to a great day of interactions, debate, conversations and inspirational talk.

Honestly I like attending these grand conclaves because they help me make my own perspective about the people who run our country, leaders in the opposition, celebrities who have touched the highest pedestals of fame and the rising stars. Watching these people speak live over television shows is a different experience altogether. Their personality, aura, body language speaks about them more than their words.

Sukhwinder Singh, the singer of Jai Ho fame flagged off the event with great zeal and enthusiasm as he sang Vande Mataram. Next, an action pack discussion followed when Amit Shah, President of BJP party took the centrestage. He came out to be a very eloquent person just like his image. He navigated through Rahul Kanwals questions quite intelligently by chanting the same verse, BJP government has a vision to take the country towards progress. Many a times, he sounded quite convincing too and as a citizen of India I do look forward to the big change that the government has been promising. When asked about the provocative statements his leaders has been giving, he simply said he doesn’t agree with what they have said and will try to ensure such things don’t get repeated. He seemed very focused and clear of his party’s agenda and thus the conversation was rightly titled ‘Ekla chalo re’. He also assured the people of the country that BJP will successfully bring back black money.

Next walked in Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Sitaram Yechury, ofcourse these three leaders had much to talk about anti BJP. As always Mr.Lalu Yadav blabbered and entertained people with his unique lingo and style. They had enough complains against the government in the name of division based on religion to inflation to ache din kab ayenge. Honestly Lalu Yadav can be too irritating.

In the next session, Manohar Parikkar, our Union Defence Minister talked very sensible and noble. He said if he had survived in Goa honestly, he would survive here too. I also liked when he said that he would ensure accountability of his men, he could not lose his men loading guns. Legalizing defense agents and middlemen was in his priority. He was not ready to answer things now but in next 6 months, he promised that he would have enough to talk about as of now he had many schemes and plans in his mind. He mentioned that his engineering degree and his habit of reading was helping him in his role as a minister.

Before lunch, Sukhwinder Singh was back on stage and he rocked it with his effortless singing. It was a melodious afternoon indeed. He is blessed with a beautiful voice. He sang some of his beautiful numbers. It was good to hear about his personal life, his believes and his experience of working with the best from the industry. He asserted that songs should be censored because some lyrics were getting vulgar and I absolutely support him for this.

Mr. Arun Jaitley was running on a tight schedule and thus his session was preponed. He batted his questions very intelligently. He too was very clear about government’s vision and ofcourse he said that opposition was only trying to pull them down. He too had to explain the provocative statements made by the BJP leaders but Arun ji said the party did not support these views. He also said black money list would be released but with proper proofs and it will happen soon. He proudly said Modiji was the first PM who had talked of black money on global level with the intention to do right. Overall the expectation from him was to bring up some favorable budget plan, a few months more and we would know.

Post lunch the session with the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu was needful because Railways are the lifeline of the country. The promising minister did seem hopeful of improving things. He accepted the fact that the condition of railways was poor and investments were needed. He also talked about bullet trains on some routes but right now he was analyzing things. He had recently released a white paper around railways because there were many big problems to be tackled.

The action hero with average looks but distinct voice, Ajay Devgan added to the entertainment quotient of the day. He talked crisp but honest. I am a fan of his wife Kajol and he too accepted the fact that his wife was his favorite actress. He took a dig at how some meaningless movies were joining the 100 crore club. He said that they are promoted irrationally and people end up watching the movies and by the time viewers realize its a flop, its already monday and lots of money has been made.

It was interesting to hear Nitish Kumar (ex CM of Bihar) that why he supports BJP but Mr. Modi. He finds him an extremist. I found him honest in many aspects and ofcourse we all know he has done lots of good for the development of Bihar.

Raju Srivastava was hilarious. He tickled our  funny bone in his style. To add to the fun, 3 prominent characters from Tarak Mehta with the producer of the show joined on the stage. I personally like the character of Daya behen and it was good to hear her original voice. Jetha Lal (Dilip Joshi) was at his best as always. Modiji had chosen this serial as well to spread the message of Swacch Bharat.

What followed next was a heated debate on religion, conversion and it was participated by Digvijay Singh, Sudhir Kulkarni, Prabhat Jha, Asaduddin-Owaisi. The stupid comment made by Sadhvi was brought in the picture again. I wonder why leaders cant watch their words before speaking. Such irresponsible statements  tarnishes image of the party more than that of a person. Asaduddin Owaisi questioned PM Modi over forcible conversions. Prabaht Jha talked about RSS and Digvijay Singh said BJP was only trying to divide people in the name of religion.

All in all it was an action packed day.  The lunch, the snacks, the cocktail and the dinner.. It was all fun. Do return to read my account of Day 2 or in the day you may catch the action through live streaming or on twitter. The hashtag is #Agenda14.