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New Delhi: In another late-night video on Instagram, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, July 31, said he and even his late mother were abused at Jantar Mantar during the protests over the alleged NEET paper leak. However, he added that dragging such “misguided children” into court would not resolve the problem, and so he wanted to forgive them.

“Not only was I subjected to abusive language at Jantar Mantar, but even my late mother was abused there. But abuses never solve anything; let’s guide the misguided,” he said.

While he could understand the anguish, he said this was the time to embrace the youth and guide them on the right path.

Describing the students as “misguided children,” the PM said punishing them or making them go through court proceedings will not solve the problem.

“I want to forgive them. People make mistakes, but this is a cultural shock that our daughters are using such abusive language. We must forgive our youth who were misguided; after all, they are our children. It’s our duty to show them the right path,” he said.

Drawing an analogy, he said, “We don’t disown our teeth even if they bite our tongue; both belong to us, just as our youth are our own.”

“Our country is moving forward, and they too must move ahead with it,” he said.

Meanwhile, taking a dig at the PM, Congress was quick to respond to the “forgive children” video message and said that while the country was asking the PM to apologise, he had “forgiven the country” instead.

Tagging Modi’s video and post, Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said in a post on X in Hindi, “Listen to this. The country is asking him to apologise, yet he has forgiven the country.”

Meta summoned

In a related development, the government has summoned Meta officials to explain the temporary takedown of PM Modi’s first such video last week. While the video disappeared for a short while and Meta apologised, citing an ‘error’ as the cause, the government is not satisfied and has sought answers from the social media giant.