'Mann Ki Baat' is not 'Sarkari Baat' but 'Bharat Ki Baat': PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday recalled his journey on Mann Ki Baat claiming that the talk show remained apolitical in the 50 episodes in the last 4 years. He claimed that Mann Ki Baat is not 'Sarkari Baat' but 'Bharat Ki Baat' which talks about the aspirations of the country.

 "Some young friends attempted to study over many episodes of Mann Ki Baat. They did analysis of all episodes to calculate the frequency of occurrence of particular words; whether words that were oft-repeated! One of their findings was that, this programme remained apolitical," he said.

The Prime Minister also revealed why he thought radio would be the perfect medium for him to reach the masses when he was thinking about starting Mann ki Baat. "When I became Prime Minister, it was natural for me to turn towards strong, effective medium. And in 2014, when I took charge as Pradhan Sevak, Principal Servant, it was my wish to reach out to masses with the glorious saga of our country’s unity," he said.

PM Modi also quoted a survey by All India Radio as per which 70 per cent of respondents are listeners who regularly tune in to ‘Mann Ki Baat’. "People are connecting with this programme and ensuring their participation through TV, FM Radio, Mobile, Internet, Facebook Live; along with periscope. Most people believe that greatest contribution of Mann Ki Baat has been enhancement of feeling of positivity in our society. The medium of Mann Ki Baat has promoted many mass revolutions. India Positive has been the subject of quite an extensive discussion," he said.

The PM also thanked media for talking about the issues discussed on Mann Ki Baat. "I thank the media for playing Mann Ki Baat on their channels on a regular basis. No political person is ever happy with the media, they think they don’t get enough coverage or get negative coverage. However, media has made the issues raised in programme their own. Cleanliness, road safety, drug-free India and selfie with daughter are some of the initiatives that the media campaigned for in a creative manner," he said.