PM Modi addressed the nation today for the first time on All India Radio
Prime Minister Narendra Modi this morning held the first of what he said will be regular radio addresses to the country. Future sessions, he said, will be held on Sundays at 11 am on All India Radio.
Mr Modi, 64, debuted his radio chats with a 15-minute speech titled 'Man ki Baat' (from the heart) on the festival of Vijaya Dashami or Dusshera. (
Highlights of PM's radio address)
Mr Modi, who has pledged economic reform and recovery, and has pitched a 'Come, Make In India' campaign to foreign investors and businesses, urged the country to recognize and develop its skills. "We have to understand ourselves better and integrate our strengths. We are not lacking in strength."
He also urged people to buy "at least one khadi product" because "If you buy Khadi you light the lamp of prosperity in the house of a poor person."
He said, in response to a citizen who had written to him about children with special needs, "Specially-abled children are the responsibility of the whole society."
The PM asked people to write to him about issues they would like addressed. "I urge people to share details of inspiring incidents. I will share them with the country."
It has been a hectic week for Mr Modi, who has strictly observed the nine-day Navartri fast. He returned on October 1 from the US, where he met President Barack Obama at the White House, addressed the United Nations, and received a "rock-star reception" by the Indian diaspora at the Madison Square Garden venue in New York. (
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Yesterday, he launched the ambitious five-year country-wide Clean India campaign, which aims at improving sanitation and cleaning up public spaces.
The PM swept a narrow street in a North Delhi neighbourhood,
picked up the broom again at a surprise check at a police station, and then led thousands of government employees and school children in taking a pledge to focus on cleaning the country.