New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio broadcast 'Mann Ki Baat’ reached a new milestone on Sunday, completing 50 episodes.

The programme has come a long way from the first episode, in which the Prime Minister had urged citizens to use at least one khadi product to help poor weavers.

The episode on Sunday saw Narendra Modi talking about issues of social, national as well as international implication: the education of the girl child, tackling exam stress, climate change, and drug menace.

Radio has the capability to connect with people like no other medium, the Prime Minister said. The programme, which focused on several campaigns for the betterment of the society, like #DrugsFreeIndia and #SelfieWithDaughter, has increased positivity among the citizens, Modi added.

One of the listeners asked if the radio has the ability to make such a huge impact, why has Modi kept it out of electoral campaigning so far. 

The Prime Minister replied that even before starting Mann Ki Baat, he had decided that the programme should not be about politics, the government and even himself. Modi said that the programme is for the masses and it should be about them.

“ ‘Mann ki Baat’ sarkari baat nehi hain – yeh samaj ki baat hai,” ( ‘Mann ki Baat’ is not the discourse of politics but of the society)

According to him, if at all the programme needs to talk about something, it should be the society. He noted that politics does not give life to the nation or add to the rich Indian culture. What makes India the great country it is today is the society and its ways.

“I got the inspiration and strength to stay true to my resolution from all of you,” he said.

Modi also said that sometimes politics, which is just one aspect of the society, becomes so overwhelming that it engulfs the other aspects and this can be detrimental for the well-being of the people.

“At times people make fun of the programme, but I am always mindful of the needs of the 130 crore Indians. Mann ki Baat is about an aspirational India. To speak the truth, in Mann ki Baat the voice is mine but the emotions, examples and spirit are of the people of the country,” he added.


The Prime Minister also said that the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor was a very important decision taken by the government as devotees from India would get easy access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan’s Narowal district — a historic place where Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life.