Hitting back at the opposition’s allegations that the government was misusing central agencies, Modi said that only 3 percent of the cases being probed by ED have people associated with politics. 

He said the BJP will win a historic third term and pointed out the fulfilment of promises such as the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the opening of the Ram Temple.

In a conversation with Newsweek, which the magazine chose to publish with subjects instead of questions, Modi – under a section titled “On democracy and a free press” – had said that a “democracy like India is able to move ahead and function only because there is a vibrant feedback mechanism”. 

“We have around 1.5 lakh [150,000] registered media publications and hundreds of news channels. There are a few people in India and in the West who have lost [connection with] the people of India—their thought processes, feelings and aspirations. These people also tend to live in their own echo chamber of alternate realities. They conflate their own dissonance with the people with dubious claims of diminishing media freedom.”

Earlier, speaking to the Assam Tribune at his residence, PM Modi spoke about development in the Northeast, the Chinese threat, communication gap, and security challenges in the region. 

The PM, who faced criticism over his government’s alleged inaction in Manipur, also spoke about the situation in the state in response to a question.

“We believe that it is our collective responsibility to deal with the situation sensitively. I have already spoken about this in the Parliament. We’ve dedicated our best resources and administrative machinery to resolving the conflict. Because of the timely intervention of the Government of India and efforts made by the Government of Manipur, there has been a marked improvement in the situation of the state,” he said.

Notably, the PM had broken his silence on Manipur only after a viral video showing two women being paraded naked by a mob.