'Mann Ki Baat' has become a unique festival of goodness, positivity for people: PM

New Delhi: Celebrating the 100th episode of “Mann Ki Baat” with the country, and this time the world, on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed that he had felt a certain “emptiness” after assuming the post of Prime Minister in 2014 as he could not interact or contact people so freely any longer due to the “rigours of security and time limits”, but that the Mann Ki Baat programme had given him “a solution to this challenge, a way to connect with the common man”. Saying that for him, “Mann Ki Baat is like a ‘thaal of prasad’ at the feet of God in the form of Janata-Janardan, the people”, he said the “Mann Ki Baat has become a spiritual journey of my being”. Answering questions from the head of UN agency Unesco, Ms Audrey Azoulay, on how India planned to bring education and culture to the global centre-stage, particularly when the country is chairing the G-20 grouping of the world’s largest economies, Mr Modi said that “the work that the country is doing in this direction today is really commendable, be it the National Education Policy or the option of studying in a regional language, or technology integration in education”. Like when people go to worship God, they bring along a thaal of prasad… ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has become a spiritual journey of my being.” Mr Modi further said: “Through ‘Mann Ki Baat’, many mass movements have come into being and gained momentum.