Why Modi is media wary

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has countered the suggestion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have avoided controversies like the one involving rumours concerning Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his son if his office had a better PR set-up.

Jaitley said Modi adopted the strategy of engaging with the people directly because he had experienced a hostile media in the past.

He recalled that Modi became a subject of criticism for a majority of newspapers after the riots that broke out in Gujarat following the Godhra train tragedy in February 2002.

According to a leading newspaper, then Gujarat chief minister Modi had said in an interview to it that every action has a reaction, justifying the violence.

Jaitley, who was speaking at an event where two books on Modi were released, said no such interview had ever taken place, but it became the launch pad for the anti-Modi campaign.

He said Modi’s plea for peace and other statements were not published, and it was because of the media’s hostility that he chose to speak to the people directly.