India / In 9 Mann ki Baat episodes of 2019, PM Modi mentioned India word 220 times

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who pitched ‘India first’ policy as he came to power at the Centre in 2014, has used “India” 220 times in his monthly radio talk show Mann ki Baat in 2019.

The word “nation” found mention 94 times.

Together, the two words became the most-used keywords in Modi’s Mann ki Baat in 2019, the year-ender episode of which was aired on December 29.

Modi’s Mann ki Baat, the most popular radio show on All India Radio, was aired nine times during 2019. He went off the air in March for three months as the model code of conduct for the national elections kicked in.

The Prime Minister has spoken about “water” 73 times, underlining the priority attached to the mission to provide drinking water in all houses by 2022. The PM’s emphasis on water, as evident from Mann ki Baat, also comes when several parts of the county faced acute water shortage.

“Youth” and “Young” have featured 30 and 54 times respectively in his Mann ki Baat this year. Again, underlining the priority areas for the policy-makers of the NDA government as they are keen to harness the youth-power to reap demographic dividends. The PM, who enjoys a massive popularity among the young people of an aspirational India, has frequently tossed ideas for the youth or appealed them to undertake a task.

While Swachh Bharat has been the reigning theme of his first five years in power, the word “clean” continues to gain prominence in his deliberations. The word was used 28 times in his Mann ki Baat episodes.

“Women” have been referred to by PM Modi 27 times. He has hailed them on many occasions and women empowerment has been a key priority area in Modi’s governance. In his first term, he had launched a popular scheme “beti bachao, beti padhao” which, according to some reports, has led to improved sex ratio in some parts of the country.

Modi generally steers clear of political reference or political statements in his Mann ki Baat which is used for talks on social sector, highlighting success stories from different parts of the country and reading interesting letters sent to the PM by his followers.

Naturally, he has mentioned politics just once in his nine radio talks this year. Economy or economics — an area where the NDA government has faced severe criticism from rivals — has been mentioned just 8 times while education and Swami Vivekananda has found 5 mentions each.

Words such as Swachh, empowerment, governance and welfare each have been mentioned twice.

And, as he popularly addresses the public as “Mitron”, the English translation of the word or “Friends” is used 48 times in nine speeches or just over 5 times in each speech.