Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a person who continuously strives to stay ahead of the curve. This is evident as much in his sartorial style (he has developed a penchant for sky blue waistcoats of late), as in his communication.
Therefore, it was only to be expected that his speech on India’s 76th Independence Day will be different from his previous ones.
His earlier seven speeches from the ramparts of the Red Fort had considerable political overtones and were sometimes used as a platform for launching government initiatives like Swachh Bharat.
However, on this occasion he asserted his status as an elder statesman to make an overarching, aspirational, inspirational, and motivational pitch to the nation.
The personalities recalled by Modi for their contribution to the freedom movement and in building post-independence India were inclusive in terms of ideology, geography, and social background.
For example, he referred to several lesser-known tribal leaders and freedom fighters from south India, along with icons of the right pantheon like Savarkar. This fit neatly with his pet peeve of dynasty politics that he mentioned later. Nationalism was the overall theme that ran through the discourse.
The prime minister alluded to Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of empowering every last citizen and creating an aspirational society, which could be a country's biggest asset.
Therefore, he underscored the importance of harnessing the aspirations of the youth to kindle the spirit of `Amrit Kal’, leading up to the 100th year of Independence.
Modi then went on to list five ideas to guide the nation through the next stretch. Cutting across all the five tenets is the common thread of `responsible nationalism,’ which, it appears, would be the dominant theme going forward.
While each of the five pillars – education, self-confidence, national pride, national unity, and citizens’ responsibilities – are all important and interlinked, the emphasis on two acquires significance in light of the current political climate.
The first being lack of self-confidence – which the PM called `ghulami’. This may be loosely defined as servility born of years of colonial rule, and a hierarchical society.
Here, Modi emphasised the need for India to find its own voice in the global order and stop seeking approval for our actions from the West.
It is equally important in the domestic context that we outgrow our feudal mindset and usher in a culture of meritocracy. This resonates with his call for shunning not only dynasty politics, but also nepotism in other walks of like sports, arts, bureaucracy, and industry.
This can also be extended to national pride encompassing heritage, values, culture, education, and languages.
The prime minister highlighted the Indian tradition of seeing the divine in nature — in rivers, trees, and mountains — and respecting women as an embodiment of power (nari shakti). These go far beyond modern concepts of ecology and feminism. He dwelt on the ideas of gender-equality and respect for women to encourage their participation in nation building.
The latter was probably an oblique reference to the misogynistic mindset of a section of society, and instances of violence against women.
In the same vein, the PM invoked the concepts of dignity of labour, entrepreneurship, and innovation, to generate unconventional employment opportunities and create an ecosystem for growth in tier 2 and 3 cities.
However, the most politically significant part of the prime minister’s speech today was the one about citizens’ responsibilities.
Here, he referred to the corruption in society and the tendency to normalise graft and economic crime. It was virtually a call to arms for the common citizen to join the fight against corruption.
From this it can safely be assumed that we shall see a further stepping up of actions of investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), the Income Tax department, and others, for which the PM is trying to rally public support to counter political pushback.
The prime minister did not shy from decrying those accused of economic offences roaming freely on bail, and people being short of space at home to store black money. The references were hard to miss even for the politically naïve.
The prime minister’s speech was shorter than in the last couple of years, and more engaging. It was clear that he was trying to take the moral high ground on nationalism, and we are likely to see the idea gather more steam in the run up to the 2024 general elections.
It would be interesting to see how the opposition responds, aside of tired tropes of vendetta politics and dictatorship.
Whether that will cut any ice with the people one cannot say. But for the moment Modi has upped the game a few notches higher.
Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.