Just over a month before Congress lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, the party earned the distinction of arranging for the most number of students watching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Teachers’ Day address on September 5.
The PM’s move to address school kids was dubbed by the opposition, including the Congress, as an attempt to indoctrinate young minds.
The number of children watching the speech in the state was a whopping 14.3 million.
The information was given by the human resource development minister Smriti Irani in reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha.
BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh stood next in participation, with 8.8 million school students watching the speech. Uttar Pradesh -- ruled by the Samajwadi Party -- stood third, with 7.7 million students watching Modi’s speech.
In BJP-ruled Rajasthan, 7.1 million students watched the speech while in BJD-ruled Odisha and Janata Dal (United)-ruled Bihar, about 6.5 milllion students watched the event live.
The fact that more populous UP came third and Maharashtra came on top may have to do with the government’s alacrity and also school infrastructure and student enrolment.
SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had recently said that providing laptops to students was a mistake on the part of the state government led by his son, as they helped Modi’s speeches reach the people.
{{/usCountry}}SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had recently said that providing laptops to students was a mistake on the part of the state government led by his son, as they helped Modi’s speeches reach the people.
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