PM Modi claims close media ties; but ‘zero’ pressers in 12-yr-rule
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday claimed a longstanding association with journalists, claiming he had witnessed the Indian media’s transformation from press releases to Instagram reels. However, more than a decade after taking office in 2014, he has yet to hold a solo press conference or regularly face questions from journalists in an open media interaction.
Speaking at a Diwali Milan event for journalists at the BJP headquarters in Delhi, Modi said his association with the media dates back to when his responsibility was to arrange chairs and provide other facilities for reporters attending party events.
He claimed that during party yatras across the country in the early 1990s, he was entrusted with looking after journalists. He said he continued to take on the responsibility after moving to Delhi, when he would welcome reporters and arrange seating at events such as Diwali Milan. He claimed that media gatherings in those days had fewer cameras but greater warmth and enthusiasm.
Modi asked journalists to highlight India’s success stories before the world. He also praised field reporters for reaching crisis-hit and disaster-struck areas, saying their work demonstrated that nothing was impossible in journalism.
The Prime Minister used the occasion to highlight his government’s record and take an indirect swipe at the Congress and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Referring to the Congress-era slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’, he claimed that while earlier governments had only raised slogans to eradicate poverty, his administration had actually achieved the task.
His remarks about the changing media landscape came despite the fact that he has not held a single solo press conference since becoming Prime Minister in 2014 or faced journalists’ questions in a direct media interaction.
The issue resurfaced during his May 2026 visit to Norway, when Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen asked why he would not take questions from the press as he left a joint media briefing with his Norwegian counterpart. Modi walked away without responding. The Indian Embassy later invited her to a press briefing, assuring her that she could raise her questions there. However, when she questioned senior Foreign Ministry official Sibi George about human rights violations in India and Modi’s reluctance to face critical questions, he avoided giving direct answers, instead speaking at length about India’s civilisational history, yoga, chess and its role during the Covid pandemic.