An India that is secure, prosperous, strong, also provides equal opportunity to all and where science and technology play an important part
Soon after coming to power, the political leitmotif of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was to take India into the 21st century. He used his first Independence Day address in 1985 unleashing promises and a vision for 21st century India. Thirty-two years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has outlined his own vision to build a New India by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. An India that is secure, prosperous, strong, also provides equal opportunity to all and where science and technology play an important part.
Modi also silenced those who were demanding that he apologises for the deaths of children in Gorakhpur, saying 125 crore countrymen stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the families of the departed souls. Since the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency, so far represented by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, will be going to polls at some point in time, the Prime Minister chose his words well.
Armed with some 13,000 ideas he had received from members of the public through his MyGov portal, the Independence Day speech ranged defence and environment to security of women and education.
In the context of women's empowerment, PM Modi raised the issue of 'triple talaq' and vowed to support Muslim women. Having been the chief minister of Gujarat for a decade and being at loggerheads with a UPA-led Centre, Modi realised the need for cooperative federalism. On Tuesday he qualified it further, by calling for a system of "competitive cooperative federalism". The competitive aspect of the slogan would make states compete with each other to attract investors and entrepreneurs and thereby create more jobs.
Though, unlike his past three speeches there was no announcement on Tuesday, PM Modi's comments on Jammu and Kashmir went beyond rhetoric and politics -- reminding one of the April 18, 2003 public address of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who talked of "Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat and Insaniyat". The Prime Minister said: "We have to work for the progress of Jammu and Kashmir... problems cannot be sorted through abuses or bullets... Kashmir's problems can only be solved by embracing Kashmiris."
After 70 years of failed policies, three wars with Pakistan, and more than 50,000 dead in the Valley, it is fair to say the conventional wisdom has not worked. Vajpayee had proposed moving away from a hawkish bureaucratic mindset that views Kashmir as a mere law and order problem. Like the fomer PM's initiatives brought new hope (though its fruits were not consolidated), the current PM's words and its true delivery will augur well in Kashmir.
Modi was, however, firm on terrorism. He said the global community is supporting India with critical information on terror money, and that the world had to recognise the strength of India and her clout post the surgical strike. The fourth Independence Day speech of Modi was an assertion of confidence – in India and its 125 million people.
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