New Delhi: In the 100th episode of radio show Mann Ki Baat broadcast Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not deviate from his original style. He related positive stories of the citizens and emphasised on themes such as Swachh Bharat and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay’s audio also featured in the show where she talked about the long common history and strong partnership of UNESCO and India. The show was also broadcast live at the United Nations’ Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in a ‘historic’ move, according to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.
Earlier, US businessman Bill Gates congratulated the PM on the 100th episode and commended it for catalysing “community-led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment and other issues linked to the Sustainable Development Goals”.
PM Modi is known to invoke historical figures in his monthly radio programme, especially Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Surprisingly, none of them were mentioned in the special episode. This time, he talked about his mentor Lakshman Rao Inamdar, one of the founding fathers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Gujarat, and his teaching of worshipping the qualities of others.
Some of the people who were appreciated on the earlier shows were featured again to talk about how their lives changed after. Sunil Jaglan of Haryana, who was behind the selfie with daughter campaign, was appreciated for promoting the PM’s ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ movement. Manzoor Ahmed from Jammu and Kashmir was invited to talk about his eco-friendly pencil slates business, which grew after he was featured on the show.
There were others, whose telephonic interviews were not played on the show, but referred to by PM Modi for their contributions. Venkat Murali Prasad from Visakhapatnam was one such man who was praised for his ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Chart Share’ and for promoting the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
Swachh Bharat Mission, Fit India, importance of Khadi and problems of single-use plastic were some of the topics the PM referred to in passing but added how they all went on to become a part of a jan andolan (people’s movement).
PM Modi talked about the country’s ascent into ‘Amrit Kaal,’ as he did in the earlier episodes as well. The coming G20 summit also found a mention on the show.
Also read: ‘Badal sahab ki baat alag thi’ — Modi writes glowing tribute to Parkash Singh Badal
Preparation & listeners
Preparations were made before the broadcast of the 100th episode at around 4 lakh venues, 100 locations on an average in every assembly constituency, in India and abroad under the leadership of BJP national president J.P. Nadda.
BJP chief ministers also participated in this massive outreach as they listened to the episode in public with other eminent personalities and tweeted about it.
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami from Nainital, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma from Atal Vajpayee Bhawan in Guwahati, Arunachal Pradesh’s CM Pema Khandu, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath from Karnataka’s Koppal while on the election campaign there – all were a part of the show, and tweeted about takeaways from the show.
The Assam CM tweeted, “By sharing stories of grassroots change-makers, seeding innovative ideas and guiding us to yearn for the best in our endeavour to build New India, Hon PM has spurred us all into a new thinking.”
Union Ministers were also roped in with Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani in Salon, Raebareli, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in hospital Yashoda in Ghaziabad, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in BJP national office, listening to the show. Even ministry Twitter handles were counting down to the time when the iconic episode will begin and urged everyone to listen in.
The Indian Railways had provided QR codes at all its major stations to directly connect to the show. A commemorative coin of Rs 100 denomination has also been released to mark the occasion.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)