Melting of the Iron Man

He was accused of having facilitated the pogrom in Gujarat and was ostracized by the US and EU for ten long years. He was termed as a ruthless dictator and compared to Hitler. He was called Maut ka Saudagar and his opponents preferred a life term for him behind the bars. However, his die hard fans and supporters admired his steely resolve and larger than life persona and referred to him as a Loh Purush. But the Central Hall of the Parliament on 20th of May  2014 saw this Iron Man melt.
While the media was splashed with never before seen visuals of Modi breaking down while addressing the NDA, this show of raw emotion by the very man who was accused of being remorseless and unmoved by the events of 2002, triggered fresh debate on Modi. But this time around the debate was on his human side which so far lay submerged below the image of a strong man. Months ago when he was asked why he never apologized for 2002, he had created another controversy while trying to explain that he was equally human and could not tolerate loss of life of even a puppy.
It's common to see strong public figures hide their vulnerability. It is equally common to see their stronger egos suppress acceptance of failures that may blemish the aura around them. But being human they can't for long continue with the emotional build up. God knows how many fiercely private moments they would have spent crying their hearts out for having been part of events which they so hopelessly wished had never happened in the first place.
I am pretty sure even Modi would have undergone similar opening of floodgates of tears within the four walls of his heavily guarded room a hundred times since 2002. He was probably waiting for that single magical moment when he could cry publicly and absolve himself while not letting the nation know the real reason why he cried. But it's for us collectively as a mature and understanding nation to allow him redemption.