Wake-up call

It is well known that Narendra Modi is uncomfortable with overt adulation. At the foundation day celebrations of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, the organisers asked the audience to give the prime minister a standing ovation, which it duly did. This prompted Modi to acerbically observe in his address that the culture of standing ovations sometimes helps people in the audience to wake up after a long speech. Which left the audience uneasily wondering to whom the prime minister was referring.