Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena has again taken a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shiv Sena in its mouthpieces “Saamana” and ”Dopahar Ka Saamana,” called PM’s recent interview to ANI– a “sheer propaganda”, reported NDTV.
The mouthpieces criticized PM Modi’s “short-cut” way of the interview via email. The piece was titled “Puffed Interview” and asked why the PM shies away from giving an interview tete-a-tete.
According to an NDTV report, the piece read, “The reporters sent questions to the PMO, which sent written replies. Many have treated it as an interview. In other words, it is propaganda.” “It happens in China, Russia and Communist countries, a case of one-sided dialogue,” it added.
The Sena pointed out that in a face-to-face interview many questions could be asked and any “fake statement” can be contended by the journalist. The paper said, “That much freedom must be allowed to journalists. The incumbent Prime Minister seems to have ended this tradition. He answers what he deems proper and the interviews are published accordingly.”
It further attacked, “PM Modi has begun a new era of journalism by giving a sham of an interview via e-mail. If this continues, many journalists will be left unemployed and it will be on the PM to provide them with new jobs”, reported The Quint.
Sena addressed PM Modi’s statement made in the interview regarding jobs where he claimed that in a single year seven million jobs were created, out of which 4.5 million came up between September 2017 and April 2018, NDTV reported.
The Sena assailed PM for this statement and said, “The implication is that by 2019, double and triple number of jobs will be created, the PM feels.” “If the interview had been conducted face-to-face, the journalist would have got the opportunity to ask supplementaries such as in which sectors these jobs have been created and how to verify (the claims),” read “Puffed Interview”.
The piece attacked Modi for not giving a single tete-a-tete interview since his four years of BJP led NDA rule. It further stated that PM Modi who was a friend of the media before the 2014 general elections, has built walls after becoming the Prime Minister.