Pradeep Bajpai
PM Modi's thrust for five tenets is not only bold but timely as unshackling us from the colonial mindset is of utmost import
Of the five pledges that Prime Minister Modi set out for the country in his ninth Independence Day address to the nation, two stood out particularly, for their relative newness. The rest of the speech was on expected lines – his customary denunciation of corruption and the corrupt, nepotism, dynasticism and calls for development, self-reliance, pride in our legacy, unity, and cooperation, and equality for all across ethnic, regional, and religious diversities. As always, there were subtle nuances that hinted at things to come. But before that, the two standout points.
First, he alluded to the hundreds of years of servitude and dependence, Ghulami, that has distorted our mentality and emphasised forcefully that the last vestiges thereof must be removed from the recesses of our minds. India no longer needed, he said, certificates of validation from the world. It was a bold, unvarnished statement, one that no previous Indian PM had articulated, more so on such an occasion and venue. It was as if, the soul of a nation long suppressed was finding utterance, to borrow Nehru's mellifluous phrase, in Modi's compelling oratory. With the spare, somber ramparts of the Red Fort in the background and the forgettable, poignant medieval past of the country that it evokes in a majority of Indians, the moment was rich in historical irony.
It was testimony to India's newfound confidence and the Narendra Modi government's resolute will to not play to the gallery, both foreign and domestic. It is this single-minded pursuit of India's national interest, oblivious to international bouquets or internal brickbats that have enabled the revocation of article 370, as also our balanced, nonpartisan approach to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. No more is India prepared to cave into international pressure as it did in July 1972 when it signed the Shimla agreement without settling the Kashmir dispute even when our Army had brought Pakistan to its knees and 93,000 POWs were barricaded in our cantonments.
Secondly, the PM was categorical that everyone, including Chief ministers and even the Prime Minister himself, must follow the duties of citizenship. That his focus was on politicians is borne out by his mentioning “CMs and PM” to illustrate his point. This has wide ramifications for the Indian polity. Thus, it cautions the politician to be honest and law-abiding; to keep national interests paramount instead of compromising them in the pursuit of short-term electoral gains; to avoid the Revadi or freebies culture that he had spoken of recently and that had drawn adverse comments from the Supreme Court also; to rein in the hubris that makes for a wanton disregard of propriety, probity, and ethics in public life. It was a statesman's admonition to a delinquent lot known more for financial scams, mafia links, criminal background, nativist demagoguery, casteist manipulation, nepotism, and dynastic entitlement. The common man must have been touched to the core, tired and weary as he is of the shenanigans of the political brats.
These two pledges apart, he exhorted the states towards healthy, cooperative, and competitive federalism, a far cry from some leaders playing off one against the other. His call against nepotism included fields other than politics – sports, for instance; his stress on meritocracy was refreshing in a country long riven by caste-based reservations in education and jobs. He paid homage to the leading lights of our freedom struggle cutting across party and ideological lines including, interalia, Nehru, JP, and Lohia. He repeatedly spoke of “my 130 crore countrymen”, “unity and integration”, “collective conscience”, “no one mine, no one other” and India's diversity is its biggest asset. Clearly, no group is left out in Modi's scheme for India 2047. For a leader who was branded “India's Divider- in-Chief” in a hallowed international magazine not so long ago, his unifying personality and speech were telling reminders to the audience of the actual contrary reality.
As in previous years, the PM mixed freely and joyfully with children from all regions who responded spontaneously with “pure delight on their faces” as one TV commentator put it. Folk artists, from different states, broke into their traditional dances rapturously when Modi reached them through the throng. The enthusiastic hoisting of the tricolor at Lal Chowk, Srinagar by a motley bunch of different ethnic and religious backgrounds was a welcome surprise. It was Modi's favourite slogan – sabka saath, sab ka vishwaas or everyone's support, everyone's trust– writ large on the TV screen. India, it seemed, was truly on its way.
Blurb:the PM was categorical that everyone, including Chief ministers and even the Prime Minister himself, must follow the duties of citizenship
(The writer, a former banker, has turned in his mellow years to column-writing out of his love for nonviolence, social harmony and universal brotherhood.)
