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Foreign media analyses Modi’s message, spots pro-poor shift
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interview to Hindustan Times on Thursday, his first to the Indian media since assuming power, was picked up by a section of the foreign press, global news sites and wires, including the Wall Street Journal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interview to Hindustan Times on Thursday, his first to the Indian media since assuming power, was picked up by a section of the foreign press, global news sites and wires, including the Wall Street Journal.
The foreign media sought to glean key messages on the economy and analyse the direction Modi's policymaking would take, while trying to gauge the PM's stance on some key issues.
The Wall Street Journal created a "word cloud" to analyse some key words Modi used in his interview to HT's editor-in-chief Sanjoy Narayan, and compared it with some of his previous speeches. The publication concluded that the PM's "rhetoric" had changed. "But a look at his most-used words in his first in-depth interview with a domestic newspaper since taking over as prime minister suggests that Mr Modi's rhetoric has shifted to concentrate more on India's poor and the concerns of the common man," the article said.
New York-based website Quartz ran an article on five "takeaways" from the interview on issues, such as Modi's handling of the economy, his foreign trips and inflation.
Modi created a buzz by telling HT that his aim was to cut red tape not just for "Mukesh Ambani" but also for the common man. "Red tape should not be there, does not mean it should not be there for Mukesh Ambani, but be there for a common man."
