My thoughts on this statement echo with those who backlashed Narendra Modi when this statement was made –that he lacks wisdom. Also, I would like to add, that he is proficient enough to hide the mistakes of his government.

Now let’s discuss how much, on the scale of 1 to 10, is this statement incorrect.

narendra-modi-on-malnutrition-letsdiskuss

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

When Narendra Modi made this statement, he was not the Prime Minister of India, but the CM of Gujarat. Also, it was specifically for the middle class of Gujarat that he said this. FYI, Gujarat is one of the industrial states of India with a high per capita income. And despite this, around 55 percent of kids under the age of 5 were reported to lack proper nutrition.

Mr. Narendra Modi seriously needs to search what is the difference between eating to fill your stomach and eating for staying healthy. When he was asked to comment on the malnutrition in kids in Gujarat, he commented on an entirely different age group and in an entirely different context.

Here’s what he was asked to comment on:

"About half of the Gujarati children under five were stunted, or too short for their age."

Here’s what he said:

"If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they'll have a fight. She'll tell her mother, "I won't drink milk. I'll get fat."

Not a very nice save, Mr. Modi.

Even the then women and child development minister Krishna Tirath slammed him calling Modi’s words entirely misleading. She even said that he should not contest elections in Gujarat after this.

Congress MP Girija Vyas that Modi is mocking the girls in order to hide the inefficiency of his government (I think he still does so, and on a bigger level).

Gujarat is a middle-class dominated state and this section (especially kids) is suffering badly in terms of nutrition. In all this, if powerful leaders like Modi go on commenting so casually on this class, it’s progress is doomed, according to me.