What's The Point Of PM Modi's 'Interviews' If He Won't Answer Real Questions? But he did! 'Chaliye, Puducherry ko Vanakkam'

By Dilip -
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first ‘exclusive’ interview of 2019 to news agency ANI is one among a handful that he has granted to certain media outlets since coming to power in 2014. The interview has evoked some sharp responses from the Opposition, which has called the whole exercise “fixed”. Until now, Modi has managed to keep the media at an arm’s length and has avoided being asked difficult questions. This is through a careful combination of techniques - he is active on Twitter, where he posts announcements of new schemes, condolences for the recently departed and often responds to praise. He sometimes conducts interviews via email, where there is no chance of difficult follow-up questions. 

Puducherry Vaanakkam!

His government’s most ambitious (and possibly destructive) gambit so far, demonetisation, was announced through a surprise speech at night. There is no chance of an annoying counter-question popping up on his regular radio show. He has not held a single press conference in India since becoming the prime minister. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ridiculed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and called him a “silent PM” on several occasions. Singh recently took a dig at Modi and said that unlike his successor, he had never been scared of facing the press. Carefully controlled communication, as Reuters had pointed out soon after Modi took over as PM, has been a defining characteristic of the BJP government. 

Union ministers too seem to have taken a cue from him. The Wire points out that ministers, such as home minister Rajnath Singh, who earlier had cordial relationships with the media, have walled themselves up. Another report says that most ministers are loath to have regular dealings with the free press and instead prefer engaging through Doordarshan or All India Radio (AIR).

Swati Chaturvedi has written a comprehensive piece for The Wire, asking why the Prime Minister is terrified of holding even a single press conference. She points out that Modi also did away with the practice of carrying the media with him on his dizzying schedule of foreign trips. While Modi has never given a press conference as the Prime Minister, he is quite active on social media. This form of communication is however, largely one-way and there is no scope of a debate... read more:
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/narendra-modi-interview-press-conference-demonetisation-twitter_in_5c2c6dd5e4b05c88b703de3b?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage


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