The former governments or those who ran them were very keen of the ‘mai baap’ culture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said at an event. Making a distinction from the politics of dynasticism or familism, PM Modi explained that governments used to behave like ‘masters’ with the citizens and had ‘always doubted them in everything’.
“In earlier times, governments or those who steered the governments were very fond of the mai baap culture. Do not confuse this with the ‘parivaarvad’ or ‘bhai-bhatijavaad’…Citizens had to take government’s permission for whatever they had to do. This led to the a scenario of mutual distrust and suspicion between governments and citizens,” PM Modi said while addressing the ET Global Business Summit 2023.
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The Prime Minister was purportedly referring to a system of government where the less powerful citizens are at their mercy based on the goodwill instead of having entitlements. PM Modi recalled that there was a time when licenses were required for citizens to own TVs or radio sets. “Not just that, they had to be renewed just like driving licenses,” he added.
He further said that the economic reforms in the 1990s were made under ‘compulsion’ and that the ‘mai baap’ mentality. “After 2014, we reimagined the ‘government first’ mentality into ‘people first’ approach,” he added.
