PM Modi lacks courage to hold "undoctored" press meets: Congress' Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of scripting his media interactions and said he lacked the courage to hold "undoctored" press meets like his predecessors.

As the Modi government completes 11 years, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said every head of government in the world has a freewheeling press conference now and then but "ours has had none for 11 years".

In a post on 'X', he said, "Narendra Modi produced, directed, and scripted his media interactions last year during the election campaign - during one of which he famously claimed to be non-biological. But he has never ever had the courage to have an undoctored press meet."

"This is in total contrast to all his predecessors. His favourite hate used to have spontaneous press meets almost every other month where he would be ruthlessly questioned and he would answer patiently. That is one way our democratic foundations got established," he said.

Separately, he said the question remains why Modi has not held a free-wheeling press conference where he has taken questions from the media.

"This Prime Minister does not answer questions from the opposition. He does not give answers in Parliament. He does not attend all party meetings. If he believes that the media is an important instrument of our democracy, then why doesn't he give a freewheeling interview?" he asked.

Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairperson Pawan Khera posted on ‘X’, “Eleven years and no Press Conference….. His term (is) coming to an end. His politics (is) globally exposed. His governance is in tatters. His policies have boomeranged. This Prime Minister is a joke.”