Union Minister of Earth Sciences and Food Processing Industries, Kirren Rijiju, criticised Saurabh Dwivedi, Editor of India Today Hindi, on Monday after a clip of his interaction went viral. In the clip, Dwivedi can be seen saying that he will ask the Prime Minister why he never admits that he is obligated to answer tough questions regarding decisions made by his government.
Reacting to a tweet, Kirren Rijiju wrote, “I don’t know what do these people gain by launching false propaganda? What sadistic pleasure they draw by wrongfully tarnishing the image of our Prime Minister?”
Rijiju used strong words while reacting to a tweet by a user named Yo Yo Funny Singh. The user, while sharing the clip of Saurabh Dwivedi, wrote, “He’s interviewed some of the top ministers of the Modi Government – Jaishankar, Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Scindia, Ashwini Vaishnav, Anurag Thakur, and there will be many more during this election season. Yet, he wants to use this classic leftist sophistry.”
Significantly, opposition parties accuse PM Modi of evading challenging questions from the media. Numerous opposition figures assert that the PM exclusively grants interviews to media outlets sympathetic to the Modi government during election seasons, thereby avoiding difficult questions.
Following the Union Minister’s tweet, many social media users questioned him, asking how asking questions could be tantamount to tarnishing an image? A user stated that the PM is elected by the people of India and is answerable, isn’t he?