How The East Was Won

FIREWORKS OF THE MIND AND A KINDLING OF THE SPIRIT LIT UP THE INDIA TODAY CONCLAVE 2018 EAST

- Romita Datta

As the nation enters into poll mode for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the east of India is likely to emerge as a “laboratory of India’s many competing ideas and trends, a microcosm of both constructive and destructive spirits”. This central theme, as articulated by India Today Group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie, manifested itself in the debates and discussions spanning 22 riveting sessions at the India Today Conclave East in Kolkata on October 5 and 6.

The chief ministers of Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, top politicians, industrialists, sports stars, filmmakers, actors and musicians attended the conclave, talking about their idea of India and their role in the making of it. The conclave had a most inspiring beginning, with three lady sports icons— Asian heptathlon gold medal winner Swapna Barman, former India women’s cricket team captain Jhulan Goswami and Indian hockey team captain Rani Ram pal—recounting incredible stories of endurance, grit and “golden moments” in their journey to the top. “I have remained the same, only people have now started seeing me differently,” said Barman.

NETAS BEYOND POLITICS

The conclave platform transformed into a veritable battleground for 2019 with rhetorical duels even as Adele’s song Skyfall played in the background. The session, ‘Bengal Tiger and 2019: Will it Roar?’, had BJP Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly saying how rising communalism in the state wasn’t her party’s fault but was due to the failing law and order situation in Mamata Banerjee’s reign. The Left, represen ted by Lok Sabha MP Mohammed Salim, didn’t let her party offeasily, saying “the politicisation of religion happened only after Modi and Mamata came to power”.