‘Mistakes happen, I’m not god’: 3 things Modi said in his first podcast with Nikhil Kamath

In his first-ever podcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got into a candid conversation with Zerodha’s co-founder Nikhil Kamath where he touched upon a variety of subjects from politics to wars to the rise of technology.

Kamath’s podcast ‘People with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ by ‘WTF’ aired on Friday. Here’s all that was discussed:

‘Mistakes happen, I am not god’

Kamath asked the prime minister to share his views on people who think politics is a place to play dirty games.

“Growing up in a South Indian middle-class home, we were always told that politics is a dirty game. This belief is so ingrained in our psyche that it is almost impossible to change it. What is your one advice for people who think the same?” he asked.

PM Modi replied, “If you believed in what you said, we would not be having this conversation.”

When being asked about some of his old speeches as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, PM Modi said, “When I became the CM, in one of me speeches, I had said that I will leave no stone unturned in my efforts. Secondly, I will not do anything for myself. Third, I am a human, I may make mistakes, but I will not make mistakes with bad intentions. I made them my life’s mantras. It is natural to make mistakes, after all I am a human, I am not God, but will not do wrong intentionally.”

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Continuing his line of questions on politics, Kamath asked whether people require a basic skill set to enter the world of politics, to which the prime minister replied, “There are two things: becoming a politician is one part and becoming a successful one is the other. I believe you need to be dedicated, committed, be with the masses in their good and bad times, be a team player.”

‘Jinping wanted to come to my hometown’

Recalling his first term as the Indian prime minister in 2014, PM Modi revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his desire to visit the former’s hometown in Gujarat.

“When I became the PM in 2014, leaders from across the world make courtesy calls… Chinese President Xi also made a courtesy call in which he said that he wants to come to India. I said ‘you are welcome, you must visit. He said I want to visit Gujarat, your village Vadnagar… He said ‘you know why? Me and you share a special bond’… He said Chinese philosopher Hiuen Tsang resided the longest in your village and when he returned to China, he resided in my village,” the prime minister said.

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‘I was denied American visa’

During the two-hour-long podcast, PM Modi said that he was denied an American visa when he was an MLA.

“I was the MLA when the American government refused to give me a visa. As an individual, going to America was not a big thing, I had visited before also; but I felt the disrespect of an elected government and the country, and there was a dilemma in my mind as to what was happening,” he said.

“That day, I held a press conference, where I said that the American government had rejected my visa. I also said that I see an India, where the world will stand in queue for visa, this is my statement in 2005 and today we are standing in 2025. So, I can see that now, the time is of India,” PM Modi added.

‘Damage control’

Meanwhile, Congress took a jibe at PM Modi’s ’not a god’ comment, saying that he is doing “damage control” eight months after claiming that he is “non-biological”.

“This from a man who proclaimed his non-biological status just eight months back. This is clearly damage control,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.