New claims of DD censoring interview: Did Modi call Ahmed Patel his friend?

As the war of words escalates over Narendra Modi’s interview with the national public broadcaster Doordarshan News, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate’s office has released the entire quote to clarify that he never said that Priyanka was ’like his daughter’. In an answer to a question, Modi says that he wouldn’t be angry even if Priyanka Gandhi hurled a ‘hundred curses’ at him, reports Ibnlive . “Any daughter for her brother and mother’s victory will do everything. A daughter is after all a daughter, if she does not work for her mother, whom will she do it for? It is her right to work for her mother, to work for her brother. If she hurls ten more curses, then too a daughter is a daughter and as a daughter, whatever she does, I won’t be angry at her,” Modi is heard telling the interviewer. [caption id=“attachment_1505433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] What did Modi say during the interview? AFP image[/caption] Adding to the controversy, a new report in the Times of India now claims that Modi had called senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel a ‘good friend’, only to have it edited out. Modi noted his past relationship with political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and wished their friendship could have survived. The report claims that this quote was edited out by the national broadcaster. “Ahmedbhai is among the best friends I have in Congress but not now… I had a good friendship with him and would have preferred that it had remained so… but he now runs away from me and doesn’t take my calls,” Modi had reportedly  said in the interview, said the Times of India.   While Modi has suggested that he and Patel have shared dinners in the past, the Congress leader has denied it, telling TOI that he hasn’t even taken tea with the BJP leader since 2001 and the quotes were part of a “devious script” by the rival party. The report also claims that 20 minutes of the 56-minute-long interview were not aired by the broadcaster. Doordarshan issued a statement denying modifying the interview for political reasons. “There was no deliberate editing or omission of any portion of the interview. Wherever editing was done, it was for technical reasons and during post-production. There was no interference or control from any authority in the entire process,” Doordarshan said in a statement. Insisting that there was no attempt to downplay the interview, DD said that “important portions of the interview were used in all the important bulletins of DD News also….It was given wide pre-telecast publicity and (the interview) was repeated the next day.” The broadcaster also said that it had publicised the programme by making announcements as well as on the social media. An earlier report had claimed that Modi had said that Priyanka was ’like my daughter’ and it had been edited out by Doordarshan to prevent political controversy. The report had sparked strong reactions from the Congress and Priyanka, with the latter saying that she did not appreciate such a comment. “My father died for this country more than 20 years ago. I loved him more than anyone in the world. I really don’t appreciate this. Enough is enough,” Priyanka said. While none of this is likely to affect any of the leaders involved, be it Modi, Priyanka or Patel, it has certainly become a huge source of embarrassment for the low-key Doordarshan – which now stands accused of using tactics reminiscent of the socialist era of state censorship.