Mumbai: BJP ally Shiv Sena claimed on Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent interviews to two English dailies had been given over email, comparing the alleged practice to "propaganda seen in communist countries".

"The reporters sent questions to the PMO, which sent written replies. Many have treated it as an interview," said an editorial carried by Sena mouthpieces Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana.

"In other words, it is propaganda - the sort of one-sided dialogue seen in China, Russia and communist countries."

The Sena has been critical of the BJP governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, and embarrassed the ally by abstaining from voting on the recent no-confidence motion in Parliament.

People expect a Prime Minister who calls himself the pradhan sevak (prime servant) to answer them face to face, the editorial said.

"These interviews (published on Sunday and Monday) were not given face to face," it said.

"The journalists did not get any chance to question any claim that could be unfounded. The Prime Minister has ended this practice (of interactive interviews) and gives only convenient replies."

It has been widely suggested that Modi tends to avoid interactive interviews, except with television channels seen as friendly to the government, and prefers sending written answers too written queries.

He has yet to address a single news conference since becoming Prime Minister four years ago. Apart from sudden television appearances, like the time he had announced the November 2016 demonetisation, and his monthly radio talk Mann Ki Baat, he addresses the public largely through government events and political campaigns.

In 2015, French daily Le Monde had refused to carry an interview of Modi after it allegedly received written answers without any interaction.

"People have questions and it was required of the Prime Minister, who considers himself the pradhan sevak, to address critical issues like unemployment," the editorial said. "Instead, he took the shortcut of emails...."

The editorial questioned the employment statistics cited in the interviews. "The Prime Minister indicated that 7 million jobs had been created in one year, of which 4.5 million were created between September 2017 and April 2018," it said.

"A journalist actually taking the interview could have asked the Prime Minister to identify the sectors where these jobs had been created. From the reply it appears that the Prime Minister feels the job creation figures would double or triple by 2019."

The editorial asked: "If so many jobs have been created, why do unemployed youths rampage on the streets for employment and job reservations?"A recent Maratha agitation for reservations had turned violent in several parts of the state, including Navi Mumbai and Pune.

The editorial suggested that the demonetisation was one source of the joblessness.

"There were huge job losses in both the organised and unorganised sectors. The construction, production and service industries, which were the mainstay of employment generation in Mumbai, are now limping," it said.