In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' address, on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was time for startups to be "vocal for local toys" and also asked them to develop computer games in and based on India, citing the nation's rich heritage and traditions that can drive innovations in the toy and gaming industry.
Modi touched on a number of issues in the broadcast and lauded people for maintaining unprecedented restraint and simplicity in celebrating festivals during the Covid-19 pandemic and praised farmers for an increase in the sowing area for crops.
Nearly 24 hours later, the video put out by the Bharatiya Janata Party, had over 79,000 likes, but the clip saw a whooping 5.34 (534K) lakh dislikes. At the time of writing this article, the video on YouTube has over 6.33 lakh dislikes. The video on the BJP channel has been watched by around 10 lakh viewers, while the channel has 3.5 million subscribers.
#Mann_Ki_Nahi_Students_Ki_Baat started trending on Twitter soon after the episode was aired. Many on YouTube and Twitter questioned the Prime Minister for not addressing the issues related to JEE and NEET exams.
Meanwhile, the clip uploaded by Narendra Modi's channel has 56,000 likes and 1.64 lakh dislikes. The PMO channel has over 41,000 likes and 1 lakh dislikes, and also the comments option for the video has been turned off.
Many comments in the videos reflected a sense of dissatisfaction for Modi not addressing the issue of the ongoing NEET/JEE examinations, which has been debated by many state governments and political parties.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the students wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the issue of NEET and JEE exams in his monthly radio programme, but he spoke on toys.
Six state governments through their ministers have also moved the Supreme Court with a review petition seeking postponement of these exams.
In his address, PM also highlighted the contributions of canines in general in thwarting numerous bomb blasts and terror conspiracies while mentioning a few incidents. Even in relief operations, dogs play a crucial role in finding out people buried under rubble, he had said.
Modi also spoke about an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' app innovation challenge organised earlier this month and noted that nearly two thirds of around seven thousand entries were from tier two and tier three cities.