Mann Ki Baat: PM asks for #SelfieWithDaughter, remains silent on Lalit Modi row

Taking a cue from a competition organised by the head of a Haryana village, the Prime Minister said ‘selfies’ with daughters is a good way to convert ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ into a people’s campaign, and that he himself will re-tweet some of these photos.

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“Recently, the sarpanch of Bibipur village of Haryana, Sunil Jaglan, took a very interesting initiative. He organised a competition in his village, and asked everyone to post a selfie with their daughters. Because of this, every father wanted to get a selfie clicked with his daughter. I really liked this concept. Since it comes from Haryana, where the gender ratio is the worst, it raises hope,” Prime Minister Modi said in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme.

“This particular incident has also inspired me and I would now request all of you click a selfie with your daughters and post it on the Internet with ‘selfiewithdaughter’ hashtag. Along with that, you can also post a powerful tagline for the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign in your preferred language. The most inspirational of those lines will be retweeted by me along with the ‘selfie’. This way we can convert the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ into a public campaign. Let’s all take forward the initiative taken by Sunil bhai of Bibipur village,” he added.

During his 20-minute address to the nation, Modi did not discuss the political controversy around the Lalit Modi, Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj storm.

Once the most powerful person in Indian cricket, Lalit Modi is facing multiple investigation by Indian law enforcement agencies and has been living in London. Raje and Swaraj are accused of extending their help in ensuring that Lalit Modi was granted permission from UK authorities to continue to stay in London.

The controversy has snowballed into the most serious crisis that the Narendra Modi government has faced in its one year tenure so far.

But just like on all ‘Mann ki Baat’ programmes earlier, Modi tried to make an informal conversation with the people, keeping all political topics away.

He thanked people for their response to his earlier request to post pictures from their holidays to show how Incredible India really was. And he called on them to ‘gift’ premiums for the three recently launched social security schemes to their domestic helps ahead of Raksha Bandhan festival.

“We have got a very positive response to the three social security schemes. We have to take them forward. Raksha Bandhan comes in August. Before that, lets gift the mothers and sisters who work in our homes, insurance schemes worth Rs 12 and Rs 330 per year for their entire life,” he said.

Keeping in mind the monsoon season, the Prime Minister urged the people to conserve rain water. “Every drop of water is valuable. For the country, for our society, we will have to make it a practice to conserve every drop of water. We must try to ensure that the village water remains in the village, the city water remains in the city. If we save rain water, it helps us throughout the year,” he said.