No, Modi Did Not Say Bhajans Can Solve Malnutrition

The internet is rife with claims stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested 'bhajans', or Hindu devotional songs, as a solution for malnutrition, during the August 28, 2022 episode of the radio programme Mann Ki Baat, that is hosted by him.

BOOM found these claims to be misleading; those making such claims grossly misrepresented Modi's recent statement on this matter. During the latest Mann Ki Baat programme, Modi claimed that bhajan-kirtan events in Madhya Pradesh were accompanied by awareness campaigns on malnutrition, along with 'balbhoj' being organised to feed children. He gave this as an example of how bhajan-kirtan events were used to solve malnutrition. In the entire programme, we did not find Modi claiming that singing bhajans itself would solve malnutrition.

Following Modi's latest episode of Mann Ki Baat, The Wire Science published an opinion piece by Pankaj Kumar Mishra, a PhD scholar at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The article called Modi out in underplaying effective public health measures by the government, by putting the focus on cultural and traditional practices instead.

As the article started getting viral, many misconstrued the points made in the article, and those made by Modi last Sunday. We found some prominent Twitter handles claiming that Modi had suggested that singing bhajans would itself cure malnutrition. None of these posts provided further context to what Modi said, including his mention of 'balbhoj' and malnutrition awareness campaigns.

One such handle belonged to Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader K.T. Rama Rao, who tweeted, "Bhajan as a solution for Malnutrition! That too coming from PM! I seriously hope it was a teleprompter typo where Bhojan was typed in as Bhajan. India is ranked at 101/116 on the global hunger index & we need immediate focus & solution for malnutrition, not these comic capers."

Click here to see an archive of the above tweet.

A similar claim was also made by popular social media user and columnist Ashok Swain, a Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. Swain tweeted, "Modi says singing Bhajan (Hindu devotional song) can solve malnutrition problem. Thankfully Nehru is not alive to witness this stupidity!"

Click here to see an archive of the above tweet.

We also found many Facebook users sharing the article by The Wire Science, to state that Modi had suggested bhajans as a solution to malnutrition. You can find such posts here, here and here.

Fact-Check

BOOM read the opinion piece written by Mishra for the Wire Science, but could not find any mention of Modi suggesting that singing bhajans can solve malnutrition.

Rather, the article appears to call out Modi for undermining public health measures to combat malnutrition by instead putting the onus to fight malnutrition on traditional and cultural practices like bhajan-kirtans.

Furthermore, BOOM accessed the published transcript of Modi's latest episode of Mann Ki Baat (English, Hindi) to better understand what he said, and also listened to the audio recording of the episode, which is published on YouTube.

Here is an excerpt from the transcript:

"Can you imagine, whether song and music and bhajans can also be used to remove malnutrition? It was successfully used in "Mera Bachha Campaign"; the "Mera Bachha Abhiyan" in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh. Under this, bhajan-kirtans were organized in the district, in which teachers as nutrition gurus were called. A Matka program was also held, in which women bring a handful of grains to the Anganwadi center and with this grain, a 'Balbhoj' is organized on Saturdays. Besides this increase in the attendance of children in Anganwadi centers, malnutrition has also shown a dip. A unique campaign is also going on in Jharkhand to increase awareness about malnutrition. A snake ladder game has been prepared in Giridih, Jharkhand. Through play, children learn about good and bad habits."

In this segment of the episode, Modi speaks about the organisation of awareness campaigns on malnutrition by including 'nutrition gurus' during bhajan-kirtan events. He also mentions of a 'matka' programme, where a 'balbhoj' or meals for children are organised using grains provided by women to the Anganwadi center.

We also listened to the audio recording of the episode, and found Modi speaking of the segment in question a the 12:57 mark. We confirmed that Modi spoke of the organisation of malnutrition awareness campaigns and 'balbhoj' during bhajan-kirtan events, and did not state that singing bhajans could solve malnutrition.

The claims viral on the internet are misleading, as they omit the parts about the awareness campaigns and 'balbhoj', and present Modi's statements out of context.