PM Modi's Praise In Mann Ki Baat Leaves This Man In Madhya Pradesh Squirming

Bhopal: Instead of being ecstatic, a 70-year-old mason at a Madhya Pradesh village has been left red-faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's praise in his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat. The Prime Minister, said Dilip Singh Malviya, has been misinformed.

Mr Singh, who got a pat on the back for building 100 toilets free of charge, says so far he has built around 50. And they have not been built free of charge.

"I have built 23 toilets in this village and another 20-25 in another village," said Mr Singh, a resident of Madhya Pradesh's Bhojpura village. "I did not work for free but accepted delayed payments."

"Hailing from a small village, Dileep Singh Malviya has decided that if somebody provides the materials for building a toilet, he will do it for free," PM Modi had said while talking of Clean India. "Initiatives like these take the country forward on the path of development so it is natural that we feel proud of Dileep Singh."

Bhojpura - and Mr Singh - were completely taken aback by the announcement. So was village head Suresh Varma, who, the Prime Minister had said, did not even have a toilet at his home.

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"I found out the reason for misinformation," Mr Varma told NDTV. "A local journalist misreported facts in his story about Dilip. He even reported that I did not have a toilet at home, which is not true. We will take action against him."

The matter soon acquired political overtones, as the state Congress pointed out the discrepancy. "When the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan can misinform PM Modi about his home district, then one can imagine the state if affairs here and the level of corruption," said Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson K K Mishra.

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The state government hit back, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeting:
  

Sources in Sehore administration told NDTV that the Prime Minister's office had never consulted them about Mr Singh. The Prime Minister had mentioned that Mr Singh's "achievement" has been highlighted by a local newspaper.