There had been a buzz about which Indian channel or newspaper will get the chance to interview Narendra Modi now that the BJP is celebrating his two years as prime minister with much fanfare.
The last time Modi gave an interview to an Indian media house was in April 2015 when he spoke at length to Hindustan Times Editor-in-Chief Sanjoy Narayan. In fact, that was Modi’s first interview to the Indian media after he became PM in 2014.
Now, putting to rest all speculations, it has emerged that Modi talked to New York City-based Wall Street Journal, where he was interviewed by editor-in-chief Gerard Baker, along with Rajesh Roy and Niharika Mandhana.
While it’s not surprising that the move must have left the local media upset, there was at least one journalist that chose to go public with his opinion.
And he was none other than Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor of Zee News.
Well, the tirade isn’t surprising given how Zee News is often accused of being a BJP mouthpiece. It has been on a hyper-nationalism drive for quite some time – something that seems to be in line with the BJP’s ideology. In fact, to answer these allegations, the owner Subhash Chandra himself appeared on prime time in March, while the JNU row was on.
For reasons unknown, Chaudhary deleted the tweet a few hours later.
Meanwhile, you can read the transcript of the entire Wall Street Journal interview here.