PM Modi’s I-day speech wasn’t an electoral pitch
He spelt out a new India narrative. It is time for the Opposition to counter it with a better vision, not rhetoric
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech was a statement about resurgent India even though his political opponents and analysts may be forgiven for targeting him for preparing ground for the 2019 general elections. The speech did not make a virtue of poverty as Independence Day speeches used to in the past decades, instead spelling out measures to alleviate the poverty of millions of Indians. The speech did not gloat over India’s spiritual legacy, instead stressing on the PM’S impatience to take the country ahead of its competitors in both economic and social development. This is a PM who isn’t squeamish about India’s ambition to be a global leader.
To be fair, Modi’s predecessors were not any less ambitious in taking India forward but were crimped by resource constraints and ideological mindsets comfortable with the status quo. Modi, on his part, wants India to lead the fourth industrial revolution (as the next wave of global growth is termed by most experts) despite the handicap of his country missing the previous two and playing catch-up in the third.
Over the past two decades, questions such as why India needs a 1.2 million-strong army, a 200-ship Navy or 42 (and half) squadron strong air force when it possessed a credible nuclear deterrent seemed to have no answers. Questions related to the logic of having three aircraft carriers (in the navy of a country with ostensibly no regional or global ambitions) were usually met with platitudinous answers on the country’s peaceful intention.
Sure, the prime minister didn’t announce India’s military ambitions in his speech but he did announce that the world’s sixth largest economy is in competition mode with the rest of the world.
The speech will become more contextual once India’s strategic document ( a sort of vision and mission statement combined for the country) currently being prepared by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and team of top military, scientific and economic experts is ready, with principal objectives clearly defined, and with no room for any ideological confusion.
Already, Prime Minister Modi’s ambitions are clearly reflected in his foreign policy initiatives, which are pro-india, not pro-united States, pro-russia or pro-china. His ability to engage top global powers is evident from the ever-growing bipartisan ties with the United States but not at the cost of relationships with trusted partner Russia or neighbour China. The fact is that Modi and President Vladimir Putin of Russia have had long one-on-one conversations extending way beyond formal talks, sometimes into the wee hours of morning (the last such being the South Africa BRICS summit).
The Prime Minister’s equation with Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping is no different. Both leaders have been open and upfront in informal talks with the vision of taking bilateral ties forward and simultaneously overcoming the hangover of the 1962 war which is a cloud over the two biggest armies of the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi perhaps wanted the same kind of informal dialogue to succeed within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations including Pakistan but Rawalpindi General Headquarters (Pakistan Army) is just not interested and Pakistani politicians are usually too afraid to cross swords with the generals.
On the economic front, Modi’s vision will get a boost with direct and indirect tax revenues expected to grow and a GDP growth of around 7.3%.
On the internal security front, Modi’s vision on Kashmir is a welcome departure from the so-called muscular policy enunciated by hardliners, even within his own party. Building up on his party leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Insaniyat doctrine, Modi has called for embracing the Kashmiris to remove any misconception of alienation among the masses. At the same time, his approach is pragmatic enough to focus on building new and alternative leadership within the state through elections of empowered panchayats with elected sarpanches.
If this is an electoral pitch, then it is a deep one. Many of Modi’s opponents believe that the Bharatiya Janata Party will fall well short of majority in 2019 but that the National Democratic Alliance will be able to conjure up the numbers for a PM other than Modi. This belief stems from the calculation that the grand alliance or so-called mahagathbandan will be able to crack the electoral code in its favour in the critical states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with the Congress denting the BJP’S nearly absolute gains in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
On paper, this electoral logic makes sense but past elections have shown that people vote for a national leader not for a regional satrap in a general elections. Ask Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, whose dreams of becoming a prime minister were shattered due to this confusion.
Her party currently has no representatives in the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spelt out a new India narrative. It is time for the Opposition, particularly the Congress, to counter it with better vision, not rhetoric.