‘A Voter Is A Politician Too,' PM Modi Says In Podcast With Nikhil Kamath

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 10 said that there is a need to look at politics from a bigger canvas and a voter is a politician too. In entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath’s “WTF is with Nikhil Kamath” podcast, PM Modi called for rising above the political mindset of merely electing representatives.

“We need to come out of this politics limited to electing MPs or MLAs. If we are associated with any work related to the society, it creates a greater political impact. If anyone runs a small ashram and educates girls. Even if he/she does not contest elections, the effort creates a political impact,” he said. “It is needed to look at politics from a bigger canvas. In democracy, a voter is in a way a politician. A voter applies his/her mind while casting a vote,” the prime minister added.

In the two-hour long podcast, PM Modi highlighted some points on a remark he unassumingly made during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat and said that like everyone, he made mistakes as he was a human and not a God. Kamath had first teased the episode with a brief clip in which he spoke in Hindi with a mystery guest, sparking speculation among followers about the guest's identity.

Other than this, in the conversation, Modi recalled that many people had advised him to not attend the launch of Chandrayaan 2 as the program had failed. "Many people told me that sir you shouldn't go there. A lot of uncertainties surround such missions. Countries often get success after 4-5 attempts. What if something untoward happens," recalled Prime Minister Modi. To this, the Prime Minister said he didn't have any responsibility.

PM Modi added: "When we crashed at the last moment, nobody had the courage to break the news to the Prime Minister. However, I could sense that something was wrong... It was not working."

Kamath, in a question asked about the requirement of money for entering politics. On this, Modi narrated a story from his childhood: “I am reminded of an incident of my childhood. There was a doctor in my village. He was a good eye specialist. He took great care and was also a good orator. He was also fluent in Hindi Gujarati. He decided to contest election as an independent candidate. I was a part of ‘Baal Sena’ and would go around with flags. He took a one-rupee donation from the people to contest the election. At a public meeting, he gave the account of how much money he received. I think he spent only ₹250. He won by a very narrow margin,” PM Modi said.

He added: “It is not true that society does not acknowledge the truth. You should have patience and dedication. You should not have the attitude of a ‘contract’, meaning that you do something only for votes. With such an attitude you cannot succeed.”

This was PM Modi's first podcast. After the launch of the trailer of the podcast, PM Modi tweeted: "I hope you all enjoy this as much as we enjoyed creating it for you!"