“Nice opportunity for everybody to bond together,” says India’s envoy to UK at ‘Mann Ki Baat’ community event in London

London [UK], April 30 (ANI): After listening to the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat on Sunday at the India House here, High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami said it was a nice opportunity for everybody to bond together about a community-based program that Prime Minister Narendra Modi runs.

“It’s been a great pleasure to host people from our community here at our High Commission in London on this Sunday morning at the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat. The idea of taking an event that is focused on community and having it done as a community event is quite special. As you can see around, there has been a lot of enthusiasm from diverse people across the large 1.8 million community here in London… in the UK to be part of it,” Doraiswami told ANI. The High Commissioner added that the ‘MannKiBaat’ address was also done live on community radio, community web channels and at Indian consulates in Birmingham and Edinburgh.

“It’s also been sort of done live on community radio, community web channels and also in our consulates in Birmingham and Edinburgh… So that has made it a nice opportunity for everybody to bond together about a community-based program that the Prime Minister runs,” Doraiswami said.

In a separate statement, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that he did not expect the MannKiBaat at India House in London a huge turnout.

“We didn’t expect such a huge turnout. The entire diaspora, I think across England, is over here at the India House…It’s also an indication of the kind of trust that people have in PM Modi,” the Union Minister said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar too described the broadcast of the 100th episode of MannKiBaat as an emotional event.

Addressing the Indian diaspora that gathered in New Jersey to listen to the live broadcast of the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat, the EAM said, “It is an important day and for many of us an emotional day.”

Jaishankar said that he often faces the question of why PM Modi, who is the most tech-savvy Prime Minister, uses a medium which is almost 100 years old.

He added, “You have to understand that PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat has an enormous impact not because the medium is 100 years old, somewhere there is an emotional connect between PM Modi and the people of India.”

Meanwhile, author Amish also listened to the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat at India House in London. He said, “I think you could’ve seen the enthusiasm of the audience for Mann Ki Baat by noticing that at 6:30 in the morning, the hall was packed.”

He also said, “In fact not just here, we had our consulates in Birmingham and Edinburgh as well to run this programme live. The participation was here, the enthusiasm was there and I think that it truly shows the connection that honourable PM has with people not just in India but Indian diaspora across the world.”

PM Modi’s radio monthly programme completed its 100th episode today which was aired live at 11 am. The programme, which started on October 3, 2014, has become a key pillar of the government’s citizen-outreach programme addressing multiple social groups such as women, youth, and farmers and has spurred community action.