#PMSpeaksToArnab: In 2014, Modi was more a peeved politician; in 2016, he is a confident statesman

Times Now journalist Arnab Goswami has taken two interviews of Narendra Modi within a gap of two years and the two occasions have pointed out to the fact that Modi, the prime minister of the country today, is a man who has evolved.

In 2014, Modi was a politician under pressure from all quarters

The earlier interview which was taken on May 8, 2014, eight days ahead of the historic verdict which saw the country electing a majority government after three decades, showed Modi as a politician who was under a severe pressure to prove himself in the middle of a hardly fought election.

In 2014, Modi was busy defending his case as in cases of riots, snooping, fight with Gandhis, Hindutva etc

In that interview, Goswami looked more an interrogator who kept on quizzing Modi and the latter somewhat kept on defending that he was not a divisive leader. Modi's discomfort with the mainstream media was clearly visible as he accused the media a number of times of misleading people or acting under pressure. "It is not right to link everything with Modi," he had said, taking a sharp dig at the media.

Modi kept on mocking media in 2014 interview while in 2016, he was more composed

Modi, who was then the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, was still a nervous soul. He was awaiting the result of the biggest test as a politician. There were too many enemies both inside and outside his party. He was still being seen as a polarising Hindutva leader whose election as the prime minister could lead to disaster for the entire country. Speaking to Goswami, Modi was more busy in justifying his political thoughts and words uttered at various rallies. [See Goswami's 2014 interview of Modi below]

In 2016, Modi knows who is the boss and hence was in a light mood while taking on the same channel

Fast forward to June 27, 2016, and Goswami was speaking to a different Modi. Here, he saw a confident man, the prime minister of the country, specifically speaking about his clear thoughts and visions. [See Goswami's 2016 interview of PM Modi below]

In 2016, Modi spoke on foreign relations, economy, inflation, empowerment of power, protecting farmers etc

While Modi said in May 2014 that it is not right to link everything with Modi, in 2016, he said it is not right to link everything with Pakistan. Here, we had a man who settled all debates around him and is now leading not just a party but an entire country---both home and abroad---and that too by earning a lot of pat on his back.

Modi has buried all the ghosts of the past today and is clearly the tallest political figure in the country. The mainstream media has not found much opportunity to corner him even after two years of coming to power and hence has opted for the route to compromise. For Modi, it's a win-win situation and the shrewd politician in him knows very well that he still holds the advantage over his nearest rivals.