By IANS,
New Delhi : If development is also a matter of perception, Saturday’s meeting of the National Development Council at the Vigyan Bhavan here Saturday saw a number of chief ministers try to outdo one another with impressively produced copies of speeches that sought to showcase their progress.
Nowhere was this more noticeable than in the slickly brought out 44-page presentation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, which included graphs, photos and maps. Some other states like Madhya Pradesh were also not to be left behind. Both happen to be BJP-ruled states.
Even a small state like Arunachal Pradesh had a colourfully produced speech copy of its chief minister Dorjee Khandu, backed by colour photographs of its developmental progress.
The tiny union territory of Lakshadweep had a 36-page presentation of its administrator, J.K. Dadoo, with glossy and scenic pictures of the group of 36 coral islands in the Bay of Bengal.
The sore exception to such professional productions was Kerala.
The copy of the seven-page speech of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan was distributed in good-old cyclostyled form — demonstrating, perhaps, the reluctance of Communists to change with the times.