Feku@FICCI vs Pappu@CII

Modi, Gandhi speeches trend on Twitter

Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Narendra Modi claims to be Prime Ministerial candidates for the forthcoming elections. That has not stopped Twitterati from comparing their public speeches, and making them the trend of the day.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's speech at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) today was trending as Feku. This came just days after Congress Vice-President Gandhi's speech at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), made him Pappu.  

The #Feku which was created to poke fun at BJP leader Modi, was hijacked by Modi fans. “Lesson for social media teams, never create generic hashtags, now see what happened... #Feku has been hijacked by NaMo's team,” said ‏@KartikDayanand 38m.

Modi's speech which lasted over an hour-and-a-half in Hindi, with tweets which had as many bouquets as well as brickbats.  “No airy-fairy vacuous buzz-in-the-head rambling speech -- down-to-earth, daily life experiences, doable policy initiatives,” said @KanchanGupta. Modi spoke of women enterpreneurs in Gujarat be it the Amul cooperative, Jassu Behn's pizza, Lijjat Paapad or Indu Behn’s Khakra.  

The Twitterati however did not forget the Gujarat riots episode. “Look who is talking about human rights!!,” said @itisbasi. Modi spoke extensively on women empowerment as he addressed the FICCI ladies organisation. “#Feku trying his best to convince us that he cares abt women, bt before that he has another challenge of convincing the minority. long road,” said ‏@mythpills.  

Gandhi, on the other hand, was made fun of for his lack of clarity and failure to made a broad vision for his party at his maiden speech to the industry. “Did UPA charge entertainment tax on Rahul Gandhi to India Inc event? For such a performance?,” questioned @Prakash_Sharma. Gandhi's comparisons of China  to a dragon, and India to a beehive were mocked at on Twitter.

The fearless leaders of both sides took time off to take potshots at each other on the dais. Gandhi's veiled comment that that heroes riding a horse cannot solve India's problems was much more metaphoric. Modi went direct to say, “I am filling up the trenches that our friends from Congress have dug up.”