Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been on an interview blitz during the election season, although a common line of criticism levelled against all the interviewers is that they asked no hard-hitting questions.

Now, a clip from Modi’s recent interview with the TV channel News Nation suggests that the questions in this particular case may have been handed over to Modi prior to the interview. The clip has been posted on social media by Pratik Sinha, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt-News, who slowed it down for better understanding.

During the interview, anchor Deepak Chaurasia asked Modi whether he has written a poem in recent times. Modi is seen referring to a page from his folder for the poem, on top of which Chaurasia’s question seemed to be printed almost verbatim.

The interview also made headlines after Modi was mocked for saying he gave the Indian Air Force permission to conduct the airstrike in Pakistan’s Balakot in February despite bad weather because the clouds might actually help Indian planes escape the radar. (Radar technology does not need what is being tracked to be visually available.)

In the same interview, Modi also claimed that he sent a digital photograph using email to Delhi some time during 1987-’88.

Update:

While it is possible that Modi may have meant to say 1997-’98, other users pointed out that in the same interview he also talked about not having enough money to need a wallet. For perspective, they pointed out, a digital camera would definitely have cost upwards of Rs 5,000. Even a shell account offered by VSNL was for Rs 5,000 per annum in 1995, whereas a TCP/IP or digital interface cost Rs 15,000 per annum. Before VSNL launched internet services, specialised companies like Access Mail offered email services from around mind-1990s, and there were a limited number of Bulletin Board Services in the country.

Watch the full interview below.

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