PM Modi at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2023: ‘Ignore those who throw allegations at you’

NEW DELHI: Interacting with the students at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2023, the prime minister Narendra Modi said: “put those who criticise you in a box” to students who sought his opinion on dealing with criticism.

Students participating in the annual PPC 2023, asked PM Modi how he deals with criticism he receives from the opposition. “There are people who continuously criticise you, I say, put them in a box and don’t bother with it. Their intentions are different,” he said at the event on Friday. He said students’ parents criticise only after properly analysing a student's daily activities, strengths and weaknesses.

Now parents are nagging because they lack time to properly analyse a student's strengths and weaknesses, he said. “Nagging is not constructive criticism and I urge parents not to nag as it will not help in moulding the life of your child,” he added.

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Modi also referred to Parliament proceedings and how he deals with criticism in Lok Sabha. “There are people who come prepared. The people in the opposition know your psychology and make comments to elicit response from the member of Parliament. Our MPs think the comment is important and end up answering the comments rather than presenting what they have prepared,” he said.

His comments on criticism have come in the light of the recent ban on the BBC documentary–India: The Modi Question. Since its release, the Modi government has come under heavy criticism for his alleged role in 2002 Gujarat riots. Despite the ban, students in several universities including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) attempted to screen the documentary on campus. While the screening was disrupted by disconnecting electricity at the JNU campus, 13 students at Jamia University were detained by the police for trying to hold a documentary screening on Wednesday.

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"To criticise, one has to put in a lot of effort and properly study, analyse and compare the past and present. Today, people only throw allegations, they do not criticise. There is a huge difference between throwing allegations and criticism. Let’s not confuse the two. Criticism makes us better but allegations just put you down. Never take criticism lightly and consider it valuable,” said Modi.

“If we are honest and have worked for the society with genuine integrity, there is no need for us to be worried about any allegations,” he said in the end.