Yesterday a section of a tent collapsed adjacent to the podium in Bengal’s Medinipur, where PM Narendra Modi was addressing a political rally. He was quick to instruct the Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel standing behind him to rush to help the injured who, by a rough estimate, numbered more than 20. Official vehicles were used to ferry them in to the nearest hospital where Modi went to meet them personally after the rally was over.

 The development brings back to memory the quickly controlled commotion in Patna on 27 October 2013 during a rally by the then prime ministerial candidate of the BJP. A series of bomb blasts had rocked the venue and other parts of the capital of Bihar. Rather than a panic-stricken reaction, Modi continued with his speech; wound it up fast and then requested everybody to disperse calmly. A panic reaction could have triggered a stampede.

 A comparison of both incidents when Modi kept his calm and saved the day.

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1. In Patna all BJP leaders, be it Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh or Sushil Modi were well aware of the five serial bombs that had rocked the city. But Modi instructed the cadre to pass it off as fireworks. State leaders announced from the podium, not to start "fireworks", inspite of being well aware of the seriousness of the situation to avoid a stampede.

In Medinipur on 16 July, Modi again kept his calm when he saw the huge tent coming down and alerted his SPG personnel standing behind him to rush to help the injured who needed them more at that point.

2. At Patna rally in 2013, against the wish of Bihar Police, Modi carried on with the rally so that huge crowd inside Gandhi Maidan doesn't lose it and go haywire creating more casualties. At Medinipur, 2018 Modi again didn't stop his speech at the cost of Congress questioning the the Prime Minister for his lack of sensitivity. But in actuality, he stopped to instruct his SPG to rush to help and went on so that it doesn't create a stampede like situation on the ground. 

3. Both in Patna and in Medinipur, he went to hospital and met the injured personally. He consoled them, spoke to their relatives. Then the Chief Minister of Gujrat and now the Prime Minister of the country, nothing seems to have changed for Narendra Damodardas Modi. He is one person who can keep calm and save lives.