'Daughter' row: Modi's office releases DD interview footage

Seeking to put to rest the controversy over Narendra Modi's remarks about Priyanka Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate's office has released the full interview that was edited out by Doordarshan.

In the video, Modi is heard saying that he will not be angry even if Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi hurls a hundred curses at him. Many reports had earlier stated that he told the channel that Priyanka was like his daughter.

"Any daughter for her brother and mother's victory will do everything. A daughter is after all a daughter, if she does not work for her mother, whom will she do it for? It is her right to work for her mother, to work for her brother. If she hurls ten more curses, then too a daughter is a daughter and as a daughter, whatever she does, I won't be angry at her," Modi said in the DD News interview.

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Based on earlier media reports, a visibly-angry Priyanka, in her terse reply to Modi on Thursday, said that she did not "appreciate" his comments.

"My father died for this country more than 20 years ago. I loved him more than anyone in the world. I really don't appreciate this. Enough is enough," she said.

On Thursday, there were reports that Doordarshan had "censored" Narendra Modi's interview, with BJP alleging that it was due to government "pressure" even as the public broadcaster insisted that there was no interference by any authority or any "deliberate omission".

But denying any wrongdoing, Doordarshan said in a statement, "there was no deliberate editing or omission of any portion of the interview. Wherever editing was done, it was for technical reasons and during post-production. There was no interference or control from any authority in the entire process."

Insisting that there was no attempt to downplay the interview, DD had said that "important portions of the interview were used in all the important bulletins of DD News also... It was given wide pre-telecast publicity and (the interview) was repeated the next day."