Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the journey of "Mann Ki Baat" began on October 3, 2014. (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio broadcast 'Mann Ki Baat' completed 50 episodes today, during which he shared the reason behind the conception of the radio programme and its journey till now.
During the show on All India Radio (AIR), the prime minister said: "Modi will come and go, but this country will remain eternal, our culture will remain immortal."
PM Modi also spoke about the construction of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib road corridor up to international border with Pakistan. "The government has made a very important decision -- that of opening the Kartarpur Corridor so that people of our nation can easily go to Kartarpur in Pakistan and visit the sacred place of Guru Nanak Dev."
When Mann Ki Baat began, I decided that politics will not be a part of it, the prime minister said.
"It'll neither have the praises of the government nor my name. I got the inspiration and strength to stay true to my resolution from all of you," PM Modi added. "Mann Ki Baat is about people, not politics."
The prime minister also thanked the media for playing Mann Ki Baat on their channels. "No political person is ever happy with the media, they think they don't get enough coverage or get negative coverage, however, the media has made the issues raised in programme their own."
Narrating the story of how the idea for the programme came to him after a trip to Himachal Pradesh in 1998, PM Modi said he was surprised to see a dhaba (eatery) owner in a secluded terrain getting news and information from the radio.
The man, overjoyed, turned on a radio and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was heard saying that it was the day India conducted its atomic test, he said.
"Since then, it has always been in my mind that radio is linked to the masses and has a lot of power," PM Modi said.