Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has criticised the Odisha government for not facilitating students to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Pariksha par Charcha' in schools today.
"This is an attempt of Odisha's BJD government to keep students away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rather, the ruling BJD is afraid of Modi's growing popularity among the young people," Pradhan said.
Earlier, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had asked all states, including Odisha, to make provisions for live telecast of the interactive session in all schools.
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The PM's speech was webcast by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Justifying the state's decision to boycott Modi's television programme, Odisha's School and Mass Education minister Badri Narayan Patra said, "We did not want to disturb students during the examination time. Every minute during this period is valuable."
Patra said that the students could have watched from their homes the Prime Minister's address at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi.
It is not practically possible to make such arrangements in schools, he said.
"The students should be allowed to study during examination time. They should not be disturbed at the last minute. No politician should disturb them," Rajya Sabha MP and BJD spokesman P K Deb said.
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