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  India   Politics  29 May 2017  Didn’t know my show would be viewed politically, says Modi

Didn’t know my show would be viewed politically, says Modi

THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : May 29, 2017, 1:03 am IST
Updated : May 29, 2017, 2:32 am IST

He said the freedom fighters had suffered “despicable miseries and that is how we can now breathe in a free India.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: PTI)
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he had not thought that his monthly radio programme, ‘Mann Ki Baat’, would be viewed politically when it launched more than two years back.

The Prime Minister said through the programme he had “become like a member of every household” of the country, conversing with “my family” about routine issues.

“Some people take ‘Mann Ki Baat’ as a monologue and some criticise it from a political angle,” Mr Modi said in the first programme after the completion of three years of his government. He said that like “an ordinary citizen”, he too gets influenced by good or bad things.

“When I started ‘Mann Ki Baat’, I had not thought so,” he said about the programme launched on October 2, 2014. Through the programme, he said he felt like he was conversing with “my family while sitting at home”. He added that there are many families who have written to him these very feelings. The Prime Minister then referred to the launch by President Pranab Mukherjee of an analytical book on ‘Mann Ki Baat’ two days back.“As an ordinary citizen and as an individual, this was very inspirational event for me,” he said.

Talking about the book, he praised Akbar, an artist living in Abu Dhabi, who had offered to sketch the topics various episodes of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ without taking a single rupee. He also emphasised on the importance of preserving the environment and spoke about the importance of yoga and talked about freedom fighters.

Emphasising on environment and cleanliness, he said the Central government, with the help of state governments and people’s representatives, will launch a major campaign for waste management from June 5, the World Environment Day.

Under the campaign, means for collecting solid and liquid waste will be launched in 4,000 cities across the country. The Prime Minister also lauded the people of Reasi block, a far-flung area of Jammu and Kashmir, which had been declared as ‘open defecation free’.

Referring to the upcoming 3rd International Yoga Day on June 21, Mr Modi invited selfies of three generations of a family — grand parents, parents and children — on the pattern of ‘selfie with daughter’ campaign earlier.

Noting that Sunday was the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, the Prime Minister said, “Countless great men spent their youth in jails. Several youngsters went to the gallows.”

He said the freedom fighters had suffered “despicable miseries and that is how we can now breathe in a free India.”

He also referred to the cellular jail of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, saying the younger generation should visit it to understand the trouble and torture the freedom fighters had to suffer to achieve freedom. “Once we go there, we realise why it was called ‘Kaala Paani’ (dark waters),” he said.

Tags: narendra modi, mann ki baat, pranab mukherjee
Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi