Narendra Modi pitches for transparency in political parties, says debate on recruitment process is a necessity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah interacted with media persons on Saturday at the Diwali Milan Samaroh at party headquarters in Delhi. While Shah lauded the NDA government at the Centre for successfully fighting every challenge, be it at the borders or to improve the lives of the poor, Modi thanked the media for making a positive change by making the Swacch Abhiyan its own mission.In the annual interaction with the media, Modi said that it has rekindled the memories of old days when he used to work at the party headquarters. "It feels nice to meet my friends from the media without their cameras, papers and pens. We have a long association with each other and there is an understanding with which we all work for the country," he said. The prime minister said that earlier, there were very few people in the media industry but now, it is huge and a number of new mediums of news have also come up. "Times have changed and it has become difficult for us to interact with each other," he added. He also said that apart from their jobs, the media also has suggestions to improve the country. "My experience says that everyone performs duties formally. But informally, every one has something to contribute to the nation. Journalists tell us about bottlenecks... tell us where we need to improve. Journalists travel a lot," he added.Referring to the structure of political parties, Modi said that democracy in parties is something new that the country is adapting to and it is a subject that people should know more about. People should know how a party takes shape and how its karyakartas are recruited, he said. "We need to have transparency in the recruitment process of the parties also, the prime minister said."It is true that the funding of political parties is a point of media discussion and many things come out in the open. But overall, how they are formed, how they function, how they recruit, their values, their ideologies and their weaknesses, what is the reason behind such weaknesses... all this should be debated," Modi said, adding that political parties evolving "with a true democratic spirit is necessary for the country, necessary for a democracy".Modi also acknowledged that there are many voices within the BJP. He noted that when it was a small organisation earlier or during the times of Jana Sangh, its forerunner, there used to be "ideological harmony" from its central leadership down to workers in the bottom rung.The party's expansion may be a reason behind divergent views, he said.With inputs from agencies