Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to News18 Group Editor Rahul Joshi in an interview to CNN-News18 at his official residence.
This is the second time he is appearing on the national television after his interview with rival news channel Times Now.
Watch the interview live here:
The media has played an important role in moulding who Modi is, he said to Joshi. Modi claimed to have grown with the old names in the media. I have has a friendly relation with media.
Although, Modi also pointed that the media these days in running losses and has no time to research due to the cut-throat competition, and TRPs.
The country has been affected by corrupt practices in the lower wrung of administration, Modi agreed when Joshi asked him for a solution to corruption.
Modi claimed that the corrupiton in the field of urea trade has been all but cleared due to the government’s initiative to neem-coat the urea. Neem-coating renders urea useless for the chemical industry.
Modi tried to answer the big question of corruption based on that one example.
Kashmir issue started the moment partition happened, Modi said. Kashmir, which needs development, also needs trust from the country and both are needed to ensure that Kashmir remains as attractive as it is.
The Indians in other countries are pained more than locals to see bad news form the country, Modi said. Mission and Diaspora multiply if they are together To help them feel more connected to their country, he added.
There have been suggestions that Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be held together to avoid every government move from being viewed as political.
There are 80 crore youngsters under 35 years of age, Modi pointed out. Modi also said that agricultural enhancement in the country will lead to job creation for the rural youngsters.
Joshi asked Modi about the manipulation of poor during election campaigning and the high number of poor in the country.
Narendra Modi spoke of the media frenzy and political heresay that is caused after incidents of rape, in the light of the recent incidnets.
Amid the communal turmoil that has been highlighted in the recent days, Joshi asked Modi about the political strategy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.
Modi assured Joshi that the people who vote for him believe that development is the only agenda and political strategy of his party and the government.
Speaking about his initiatives to honour Babasaheb Ambedkar, Modi said that his crtitics were surprised and did not know how to deal with his devotion to Babasaheb.
While speaking of the establishment of private and government universities, Modi spoke of the direct benefit transform schemes that his government initiated in its first year.
When Joshi raised the issue of the slowdown of investment in the private sector, Modi took the good-old road down the Congress-bashing lane.
He said that the one mistake he did when he took office is that he did not declare the economic condition of the nation in the Parliament before announcing his first budget.
The Prime Minister spoke about the economic reforms and policies while reiterating his “reform to transform” comment.
The ‘I’ in BRICS was seen as a sinking boat, Modi said after mentioning that the country was in shambles when he took office.
Modi appeared on national television for the second time in this interview with CNN-News18’s Rahul Joshi.
In the 75-minute-long interview, he spoke about a range of topics including the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strategy for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.
The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to criticise the people who are blaming him for the anti-Dalit activities, in light of the violence against Dalits.
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