New Delhi--Prime Minister Narendra Modi steered clear from making any comments on the raging political controversy around Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio address to the nation this morning.
Instead, he talked about the success of international yoga day, the need to save rain water, and called on people to post their ‘selfies’ with their daughters on the Internet to order to strengthen the government’s ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme.
Taking a cue from a competition organised by the head of a Haryana village, the Prime Minister said ‘selfies’ with daughters is a good way to convert ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ into a people’s campaign, and that he himself will re-tweet some of these photos.
“Recently, the sarpanch of Bibipur village of Haryana, Sunil Jaglan, took a very interesting initiative. He organised a competition in his village, and asked everyone to post a selfie with their daughters. Because of this, every father wanted to get a selfie clicked with his daughter. I really liked this concept. Since it comes from Haryana, where the gender ratio is the worst, it raises hope,” Prime Minister Modi said in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme.
“This particular incident has also inspired me and I would now request all of you click a selfie with your daughters and post it on the Internet with ‘selfiewithdaughter’ hashtag. Along with that, you can also post a powerful tagline for the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign in your preferred language. The most inspirational of those lines will be retweeted by me along with the ‘selfie’. This way we can convert the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ into a public campaign. Let’s all take forward the initiative taken by Sunil bhai of Bibipur village,” he added.
During his 20-minute address to the nation, Modi did not discuss the political controversy around the Lalit Modi, Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj storm.
Once the most powerful person in Indian cricket, Lalit Modi is facing multiple investigation by Indian law enforcement agencies and has been living in London. Raje and Swaraj are accused of extending their help in ensuring that Lalit Modi was granted permission from UK authorities to continue to stay in London.
The controversy has snowballed into the most serious crisis that the Narendra Modi government has faced in its one year tenure so far.
But just like on all ‘Mann ki Baat’ programmes earlier, Modi tried to make an informal conversation with the people, keeping all political topics away.
INDIAN EXPRESS
