Boos at WEF

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The World Economic Forum (WEF)'s India meeting is generally an anodyne space where pro-economic reform motherhood statements are shared among like-minded people. But this year's iteration, at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi, did have some unusual moments. One such came during a debate organised by the BBC together with the WEF. The panellists were Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal and social activist Aruna Roy. The debate featured much sniping about the Modi government's agenda, and the crowd - composed mainly of businesspeople in smart suits - was not sympathetic to Roy's views. But the most jarring note came when Roy began to speak about social cohesion. She began to quote Mahatma Gandhi, writing in 1947, of how the duty of the Indian government was to protect minority communities - but a chorus of jeers, laughter and boos ran around the entire room. Some observers noted that this would have been unlikely to have happened even a few years ago.