‘We aren’t matas, we’re hey girls!’

Louis Vuitton bags, Chanel and Versace perfumes and latest designs from Manish Arora, Ritu Kumar and Namrata Joshipura, jostled for space as members of the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) queued up to hear Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, reports Himika Chaudhuri.

Louis Vuitton bags, Chanel and Versace perfumes and latest designs from Manish Arora, Ritu Kumar and Namrata Joshipura, jostled for space as members of the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) queued up to hear Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.

HT Image

In his trademark white kurta pyjama, Modi, however, made a safe sartorial choice. “You can tell me on Twitter or Facebook if you think I should have dressed differently for this occasion. No, you might think, it’s a ladies gathering and I should have worn something different,” he joked. But the women seemed happy with his verbal prowess and the anecdotes that he shared with them of women who had fought against odds to start their own ventures in Gujarat, struck a chord.

“He was fantastic, enigmatic,” gushed Kamakshi Nagar, a FLO member, adding,” I have never heard him before, I am not interested in politics either, but he was so full of humour, I liked it,” she said. But many were unhappy at the repeated reference to women as Mata and Behen, “ Why was he saying Mata, every now and again? We are not matas, we are hey girls!” exclaimed Geeta Chaddha, another FLO member.