Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech sounded more like a snake oil salesman than a statesman
Narendra Modi’s tenth consecutive Independence Day speech as Indian prime minister, delivered from the Red Fort in Delhi on August 15, was long (90 minutes) and characteristically loaded with bombast.
- Narendra Modi’s tenth consecutive Independence Day speech as Indian prime minister, delivered from the Red Fort in Delhi on August 15, was long (90 minutes) and characteristically loaded with bombast.
- At times, he resembled the old snake oil salesman cliché: he proclaimed the success of his product and ignored its side effects.
- He was vague on detail and tried to distance himself from any problems his policies had caused.
- India’s Independence Day speech is supposed to celebrate freedom from British colonial rule which ended in 1947.
Rhetoric versus reality
- Sadly but predictably, few media organisations were brave enough to point to the contrast between his rhetoric and reality when he listed his government’s successes.
- A blatantly assertive Hindu supremacist vigilante mob culture is on display where hate speech against Muslims and Christians has become normalised.
- Were Modi a statesman worthy of his position, he would have assured India’s minorities that they are equal rights-bearing citizens.
- He would have refrained from platitudes about peace and the “Indian family” and rather spelled out policy proposals to tackle ethnic violence in Manipur.
Stump speech
- Modi’s speech spent some time accusing his political opponents of the “three evils” his government had worked hard to eradicate.
- It is significant that the day before his speech, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (named after India’s first and longest-serving prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru) was renamed Prime Minister’s Museum and Library.
- Modi’s speech was nothing more than a stump speech for the 2024 election aimed firmly at the country’s Hindu majority.
- Towards the end of his speech, Modi expressed his confidence that on August 15 2024, he would again address the country from the Red Fort after being reelected.