Fact Check: PM Modi never said singing Bhajans can cure malnutrition

New Delhi, Sep 01: The social media is notorious for spreading tales. One recent post went on to claim that singing bhajans or devotional songs can help reduce malnutrition.

And yes the one who shared this post attributed the same to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. The user went onto write, " PM of India says in Mann ki Baat that singing Bhajan can reduce malnutrition. It happens when too much malnutrition affects your brain," This was tweeted by Ashok Swain, a professor and HoD of the Department Peace and Conflict Research at the Uppsala University in Sweden. Modi says singing Bhajan (Hindu devotional song) can solve malnutrition problem. Thankfully Nehru is not alive to witness this stupidity!" he wrote.

On August 29 the 92nd edition of the Mann ki Baat episode was aired. He began his address by discussing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. He addresses the subject of malnutrition at the 12th minute mark.

He says can you believe devotional songs can be used to fight malnutrition? IN Madhya Pradesh's Datia district under the 'Mera Bachcha Abhiyan', this was successfully done. 'Bhajan events were organised in the district where the teachers dubbed as 'Poshan Gurus,' were invited. A Matka programme was also organised where women brought fistfuls of grain to their Anganwadi centres. That grain was used to cook the Saturday Bal Bhoj. This not only helped enhance the attendance of the children at the centre, but also helped reduce malnutrition he said.

This males out clear that the PM did not say that devotional songs could cure malnutrition. Instead he spoke about how devotional songs were used as a method to increase public awareness of malnutrition.