Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday recalled the day a group of journalists walked into his room at the BJP's Delhi office and told him he was about to become Gujarat's chief minister, pressing him to distribute sweets. Speaking to reporters at the party headquarters, he said almost nobody knew of the decision at the time, with only a handful of senior leaders in the loop.
Mr Modi, who spent much of his time at the party office on Ashoka Road, said the journalists arrived unexpectedly and demanded sweets. When he asked what the occasion was, they said he was being posted to Gujarat to take charge as chief minister, and he recalled their instruction: "mithai khilao". He said he denied knowing anything about the move, but the reporters accused him of withholding information and insisted their information was right. It eventually proved correct, he said.
He also remembered that several journalists travelled to Gujarat for his swearing-in in 2001, arranging their own travel and stay, and said they came out of friendship and affection rather than to cover the ceremony in a professional capacity.
The Prime Minister praised the media for helping keep democracy vibrant. "A vast diversity of thought sustains our democracy," he said, describing the press as vital to that process. Reporters move towards the scene of a disaster, he said, while everyone else moves away, and he added that "nothing is impossible in journalism".
He used the occasion to ask the media to focus on the country's achievements, urging journalists to "work on success stories" and noting that a great deal of such work was already being done. He also asked them to help build awareness in the campaign against drug abuse.
On his government's record, he said poverty had been removed and cited the World Bank for a figure of 50 crore people lifted above the poverty line over 12 years, drawing a contrast with earlier slogans on eliminating poverty. Referring to the goal of a developed India by 2047, he compared the value of deadlines in public policy with their importance in a newsroom.
The event was hosted by BJP president Nitin Nabin and attended by Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and health minister JP Nadda. Mr Modi thanked journalists for turning up during the festive season, calling it a "non-breaking news event", and traced his ties with the media from his early years, when he would set out chairs at such gatherings, to the present age of Instagram reels.
(Compiled from media reports with the help of our in-house AI tools, and edited by our desk)