Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-awaited town hall at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, began at 10.15 pm IST on Sunday and wound up 45 minutes later.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who welcomed him to the event, remarked that there were more than 40,000 comments and questions posted on the Facebook event page, but in all Prime Minister Modi answered five questions -- Zuckerberg’s opener and the concluding question, and three questions from the audience. Modi addressed the town hall in India.
The last question from Zuckerberg, who said there were a lot of similarities between the two of them -- like, for instance, love for family -- made Modi talk about his humble background, his days as a chaiwallah (tea vendor) in a railway station, his father who passed away and how is mother had to work as a maid to support the family, brought tears to the prime minister’s eyes.
Here are 10 takeaways from what Modi told the Facebook town hall:
- If there’s a fastest growing economy in the world, it is India.
- Social media is the biggest strength of democracy.
- i-ways are as important as highways.
- India has 3D power: demographic dividend, democracy and demand.
- You came to a temple in India, look where you have reached Mark!
- India cannot keep its tryst with destiny by keeping 50 pc of population inside homes.
- A mother will never say ‘become someone’, she will always tell you how to become someone.
- China has a different social media system, I am active there as well.
- Earlier people lived next to rivers, now they live next to highways. In time to come, they will live next to optical fiber networks.
- All societies have gods, India alone has female gods.
Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Facebook HQ with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Menlo Park, California. Image: MEA/Twitter
