*New Delhi:* Frustrated Prime Minister Narendra Modi after trip of UK inwhich he faced severe criticism and backlash from Sikhs, Kashmiris and evenIndian diaspora has lashed out at his own Ministers and MLAs.

His silence over rising rape cases had drawn world wide condemnation

He on Sunday warned all elected members and ministers of the BJP to steerclear of making controversial statements to the media.

He made the comments during an interaction with the party’s MPs, MLAs andother representatives through the NaMo App. “We commit mistakes and givemasala to media. The moment we see a camera, we jump to make a statement asif we are great social scientists or experts … and then theseill-informed statements are used by media. It is not the media’s fault,” hesaid.

The stern message comes amidst outrage over a spate of child rapes. BJPleaders have not helped matters by making controversial statements andbeing seen as soft on the accused. Even on Sunday, union minister SantoshGangwar stirred a row by saying that one “should not make such a big dealif one or two such cases are reported from such a huge country”.

The PM said that the levers of governance should be moved for issues oflarger public interest, keeping the principle of sarvajan hitaaya, sarvajansukhaaya [for everyone’s benefit and happiness] rather than to pushindividual interests.

“If you push individual interests you will find the levers of governancestuck, whereas it will move for larger interests,” he told his partycolleagues.

He said that only designated spokespersons should comment on mattersconcerning the party. “If everyone comments on everything then theconversation around subjects change, this harms the country, the party andhurts our own personal image.”