PM Modi draws ire for portraying dyslexic people in poor light for political gains

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received immense flak for projecting dyslexic people in poor light causing the country's National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) to seek an apology from the premier.

On Sunday, a statement issued by the NPRD demanded that the Prime Minister apologise to persons with disabilities for his contentious statement.

“The PM should under no circumstances be making such a remark. It also displays scant respect for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 according to which this constitutes an offence. The least the PM can do is apologise for his remarks," the NPRD statement said.

The organisation's statement has come after Modi in his interaction with students ridiculed all dyslexic individuals.

He had interjected when a BTech student was explaining her project: “Dyslexic children are those whose learning and writing pace is very slow but creativity level and intelligence is quite good,” the student said, giving the example of Bollywood movie Taare Zameen Par.

To this, Modi said, “Will your scheme help a kid who is 40-50 years old?” As the students laughed at his remark, he said, “In which case, the mother of such kids would be very happy.”

This has drawn immense ire from the NPRD which in the statement has said that instead of replying to a question raised by student, Modi made fun of dyslexia to take “potshots at his political rivals”.

It said, “In an uncalled for and totally insensitive response where the Prime Minister tried to portray all dyslexic people in poor light. It is all the more unpardonable as it comes from a person holding such a high office. And this disgusting attitude comes from a person who had equated disability with divinity and coined the term “divyang”. Even during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign Narendra Modi had used terms like blind, deaf, lame etc. to belittle his rivals.”