For a leader considered just a few months ago as a darling of the media, the growing chasm between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and journalists is an astonishing turnaround.As a matter of fact, during the long and heated election campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, many of his opponents squarely accused the media of a blatant bias favouring the BJP strongman. His sweeping victory was attributed partly to Modi’s ability to use both conventional print and electronic media, along with social media as a potent electoral weapon.Most journalists are, therefore, frankly baffled at the pointed manner in which the Prime Minister has spurned the media after coming to power. He and his aides have steadfastly denied interviews, briefings and even access to both print and television journalists. Ministers and senior bureaucrats have been forbidden from parleys with the media except on a strict need-to-know basis to relay facts and figures. Even BJP veterans like Arun Jaitley Rajnath Singh and Ravi Shankar Prasad are deliberately keeping a low profile.Modi has underlined his aversion to journalists by abandoning the age-old convention of carrying an entourage of journalists on his trips abroad. To rub the point in further, he has refused to appoint a proper media adviser , usually a senior journalist who is supposed to guide media coverage of the Prime Minister.Instead, a relatively obscure septuagenarian public relations officer of the Gujarat government has been drafted to do the job. So, why has Modi decided to turn his back on journalists, even those championing his cause?It seems that he still has deep misgivings about the fourth estate. These have been partly inculcated during his initial years as a pracharakin the RSS and sharpened further by his battles with the media in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Modi is also genuinely disinterested in journalism as opinion, analysis and investigation. He would much rather see journalists as mere retailers of information.“We don’t need publicity. Our work should speak for itself. Give us some time, after we have done something, we will then get in touch with the media,” explained a close Modi aide . The Prime Minister’s distrust of the media is not without justification. There is little doubt that a fair number of journalists have abused their access to the PM and senior ministers and officials. Quite a few of them are freeloaders, power brokers and self-appointed advisers who have been pampered by successive past regimes in return for good publicity.Clearly, pumped up by his spectacular win, Modi is confident enough to make a drastic break with the past and do away with these media props. This is actually a welcome change and could force the media to play far more rigorously its essential role of a watchdog. Yet, there is a vast difference between discouraging unscrupulous influence-peddling journalists and media proprietors from misusing their access to corridors of power and a concerted policy to marginalise the media.A relatively free and combative media have remained one of the few tangible highlights of Indian democracy. Any hasty step to diminish this role would certainly not be in the interest of the country.Reported plans by the new government to sidestep conventional media and directly connect to citizens through social media could turn out to be a miscalculation. Despite its growing utility as a communication tool, social media is far too limited in both its reach and ability to fully convey policy decisions.The PM should also consider the long-term political cost of bypassing the media as his government gears up to cope with new challenges and seize fresh opportunities.In good times , the media are helpful collaborators providing perspective and context through discussion and analysis that a government handout is unable to do. More importantly, if things start going bad, Modi could find the lack of sympathetic interlocutors in the media a big handicap.Ultimately, the Prime Minister may scorch himself by burning his bridges with the media. Much like Mayawati and Arvind Kejriwal have done in the recent past.(The writer is a New Delhi-based political commentator)