Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jamnagar, Gujarat, on Monday. (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jamnagar, Gujarat, on Monday. (PTI)

While addressing a public meeting in Gujarat’s Jamnagar on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent the gathering into a laughter after he made a gaffe and mixed up “Kochi” with “Karachi”.

The slip of tongue happened while the PM was speaking of the virtues of the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme, which provides health cover up to Rs 5 lakh per family, after inaugurating a 700-bed annex building of Guru Govind Singh Hospital.

Modi said the health insurance scheme allowed a resident of Jamnagar to avail treatment anywhere in the country, be it ‘Kolkata’ or ‘Karachi’. However, the PM was quick to realise the error and said that his mind was preoccupied with Pakistan these days.

“Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, if a resident of Jamnagar has gone to Bhopal and falls sick, he need not come back to Jamnagar for treatment. If he shows his (Ayushman Bharat) beneficiary card, he will get free treatment even in Kolkata and even in Karachi,” Modi said.

Realising his gaffe, Modi set things right by telling the crowd he meant ‘Kochi’ and not ‘Karachi’. “Not Karachi but Kochi. Nowadays my mind is preoccupied with the thoughts of the neighbouring country,” he said with a smile.

However, he soon changed the topic to the IAF airstrikes in Pakistan’s Balakot and asked the crowd, “But that (airstrike in Pakistan) was also necessary. Should that be done or not?” Modi also told the crowd that he would not hesitate to strike at the root of the “illness of terrorism” afflicting India.

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