Don't touch my feet, it pains me: Modi to MPs

The PM's homily to BJP MPs came during a 20-minute address to his party MPs at the Central Hall of Parliament

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s newly elected MPs that it caused him peeda (pain) when they touched his feet. Modi asked them not to touch his feet or, for that matter, any other leader's.

Incidentally, socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia, whom Modi had invoked more than a dozen times during his election campaign, would not only refuse to touch feet but discouraged others from doing it to him.

Even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi disliked people touching her feet. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, as also communists, ask their cadres to desist from touching the feet of senior leaders.

Modi said MPs should not stay in Delhi when Parliament wasn’t in session. They should go back to their constituencies. When it came to engaging with media, they should not act as national spokespersons of the party  but focus on issues that relate to their constituencies. He has also asked ministers and MPs to devote time to party matters on weekends. BJP ministers have been asked to visit party offices on Saturdays. Modi warned MPs to guard against complacency, remain in touch with party workers, attend Parliament sessions regularly, maintain the dignity of the House and participate in debates after having done the necessary homework.

Some MPs who spoke to Business Standard said it was Modi’s advice on asking them to not touch his feet or indulge in sycophancy that caught their attention. “He has risen from the rank and file. He understands the pain of a worker or a legislator, and wants to make BJP different from many other parties which are steeped in feudal practices,” an MP from Rajasthan, who didn’t want to be named, said.

The advice could be taken as tangential criticism of the Congress or even several regional parties. However, the culture is equally common to the BJP, particularly in the Hindi heartland. An RSS activist even disputed that this had anything to do with Hindu culture. “It is discouraged in RSS shakhas. I have seen senior leaders scold younger swayamsevaks if they touch their feet. However, it would be different if my children touch the Sarsanghchalak’s feet if he were to come to my home,” the RSS activist said.

But the culture is common in All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazghagam or Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam where workers and leaders prostrate in front of party chiefs. Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and even Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad Yadav encourage workers and even MPs to touch their feet. BSP MPs openly genuflect at their party chief’s feet.

More recently, while campaigning for her mother Sonia Gandhi during the Lok Sabha elections, Priyanka would often withdraw when any women tried to touch her feet. “Do not touch my feet. Shake hands,” Priyanka would tell them.