‘Hypo(d)crisy’? Congress Slams PM Modi Over Lengthy Podcast

The Congress party didn’t leave an opportunity to take a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over what he said in his latest podcast with computer scientist Lex Fridman.

In an about three-hour conversation with Fridman on Sunday, PM Modi talked about his childhood, diplomacy, leadership, and relationships with global leaders, including US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Modi appeared to be praising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). PM Modi lauded the RSS for instilling patriotic values in him. Modi also lauded Mahatma Gandhi's legacy and described himself as a peacemaker.

In reaction to the podcast, Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh targeted  Modi for saying "criticism is the soul of democracy". Ramesh accused him of "demolishing" institutions that were to hold his government accountable and having gone after critics "with a vengeance".

“He who is afraid of facing the media in a press conference has found comfort in a foreign podcaster anchored in the rightwing ecosystem,” Ramesh said.

Sunday's episode of the Lex Fridman podcast is PM Modi’s second podcast appearance. In January,  Modi had a discussion with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath in a podcast.

Hitting out further, Ramesh said—“And he has the gall to say that 'criticism is the soul of democracy' when he has systematically gutted every institution that is to hold his government accountable and gone after critics with a vengeance that no one in recent history has matched!" on X.

“He who is afraid of facing the media in a press conference has found comfort in a foreign podcaster anchored in the rightwing ecosystem,”- Ramesh said. 

PM Modi said in Lex Fridman's podcast that he welcomes criticism. “I have a strong belief that criticism is the soul of democracy. I want to tell all the young people the following: No matter how dark the night may seem, it is still just night, and morning is bound to come,” Modi said in response to questions on criticism, mostly around the 2002 Gujarat riots.

"Hypo(d)crisy ki koi seema nahi hai! (There is no limit to Hypo(d)crisy," Ramesh Ramesh said in a play of words "Hypocrisy ki bhi koi seema hoti hai" was used by PM Modi once.

Before Modi, global personalities including US President Donald Trump, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Argentinian Prime Minister Javier Milei, tech bigshot  Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman and public intellectuals like Yuval Noah Harari have appeared in Lex Fridman's podcast.