How Modi's losing the mother tongue to get the message across

The teleprompter was in place before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin walked into the press briefing room at the Hyderabad House in the Capital. As India and Russia signed 16 agreements Prime Minister Modi spoke of Russia being India's foremost defence partner through decades and that the relationship between New Delhi and Moscow was incomparable in content.

Prime Minister Modi in the past 30 days has made a switch addressing international audiences in English. When he visited Australia for the G-20 summit he spoke English at all international interactions. In fact addressing Australian audience the prime minister joked using an Australian term "shirt fronting" evoking tremendous response Down Under. The trend was followed in Fiji and now with Russia in New Delhi.

This is a departure from the PM's conversation with global leaders initially when he assumed office. His interactions were in Hindi. Close aides say when he spoke to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajpaksa, Modi spoke Hindi and the interpreter then translated. But Rajpaksa's response in English required no translators indicating language is not an issue with the prime minister. In fact the prime minister got a massive response for addressing members of Parliament in Nepal initially in Nepali.

And it is not that the prime minister did not speak English earlier. In fact diplomats say as chief minister of Gujarat he hosted several foreign delegations and spoke English during his foreign visits. But the choice of language is careful and sends out a powerful message.

In his interaction with foreign dignitaries after assuming office, the prime minister spoke Hindi giving the national language pride of place. It was in July after the successful launch of the PSLV that Prime Minister Modi first spoke English at a public function after assuming office. He used a teleprompter but his congratulatory address was bilingual - he effortlessly switched between Hindi and English.

The prime minister was reaching out to global audiences and did not want his message lost in translation. He spoke of India's scientific achievement in space technology. During his visit to Brazil for the BRICS summit the PM read out his speech in English without using a teleprompter. Again the reason was he did not want the message to be lost in translation.

And his address to the United Nations General Assembly in Hindi was again planned to send out a powerful message globally. Here was not a leader who either lost his papers or read out someone else's speech, Hindi was given the pride of place at the UN. But at the same time when PM Modi addressed thousands of youth at the Central Park in New York he spoke English.

Key aides say he is equally comfortable in both English and Hindi. He chooses the language of conversation depending on the audience.