'I am only human, not god' PM NARENDRA MODI IN PODCAST DEBUT

PM Narendra Modi In Podcast Debut

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that mistakes happen and he too is susceptible to making them. "Mistakes happen, and I too can make some. I am also a human, not God," he said.

Making his podcast debut on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath's show which was released on Friday, the Prime Minister said it has been his life's mantra that he may make mistakes but will not do anything wrong out of bad intentions.

He said, "When I became (Gujarat) chief minister, I said I will not spare any effort to work hard. I will not do anything for myself. And, thirdly, I am human and I can make mistakes. But I will not do anything wrong out of bad intentions. I have made it a mantra of my life. Mistakes are inevitable. I must have made mistakes. I am a human too, not god."

Answering a question on handling anxiety, PM Modi spoke about the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002—in which 59 people were killed—which took place just three days after he became an MLA for the first time. PM Modi recalled how only a single-engine helicopter was available and his security team did not want him to fly on it. He also spoke about the emotions he felt when he visited the site and how he controlled them.

He said that he became an MLA for the first time on February 24, 2002. He went to the Assembly for the first time three days later, on February 27, and that’s when he heard of the incident.

“As soon as I came out of the Assembly, I said that I wanted to go to Godhra. So, I told them that we would go to Vadodara and take a helicopter from there. They said that there was no helicopter. I told them to arrange it from somewhere. I guess ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) had one. It was a single-engine helicopter. They said they could not take a VIP. I said, ‘I am not a VIP. I am a common man. I will go’,” he said in Hindi.