Screams, or silence, of our youth haven’t reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ears. Paper leaks or not, most of them will become parasites, if not cockroaches. Modi anyway loves melody. His mind is tuned to rhythmic expressions of adulation and sycophancy. “Modi-Modi-Modi…” that’s the chant he has grown up on. Little wonder, he fears real questions. Ask him – aap thakte kyon nahin (why don’t you get tired), and he will burst into a thrilling monologue.

It’s wrong to say Modi doesn’t take questions. Modi has chosen his own media. A media that ensures he isn’t subjected to scrutiny. A media that erects a protective gear around him. A media that hounds and silences critics. A media that nurses his megalomania.

A media that trues up his lies and falsifies his rivals’ truth. A media that doesn’t inspect his transgressions, doesn’t explore his disabilities, doesn’t highlight his failures. A media that sympathetically implores – do you take any tonic? A media that goes numb to hear he is non-biological; sent directly by God to perform exceptional tasks. 

Modi obviously doesn’t hold press conferences where adoring queries like – do you keep a purse – can get overshadowed by irritating questions like – do you keep a conscience? Real press conferences don’t give the comfort of talking about his style of eating mango. He will have to answer how note-bandi gobbled up a thriving economy.

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Real journalists will ask if doubt over the sanctity of electoral processes dims the glow of his victories, not whether he was preparing for 2029 as 2024 was a 400-plus done deal. Why should Modi step on to the landmine when he can take a stroll in the garden?

Modi also knows the Sangh Parivar’s political project is absolutely indefensible. It is so manifestly unjust and unconstitutional that holding press conferences are like performing hara-kiri. What will he defend? Whether the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) keeping away from the freedom struggle was patriotic? Why did the RSS oppose the national flag tricolour? Why was Atal Bihari Vajpayee compelled to remind him of rajdharma? Is Hindu Rashtra compatible with constitutional principles?

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