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PM Modi's Speech On Independence Day, Jai Hind !!

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Red Fort and inspected the guard of honour. He proceeded to the podium. In attendance were his cabinest ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah. Sharing the front row with them were former Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh and his wife. 

PM Modi hoisted the national flag and the Army band started playing the national anthem as is tradition. As Modi ascended to the stage, a loud cheer rang through the crowd of children who have gathered at Red Fort to attend the event. 


"End communalism with development"
The Prime Minister, known to be a fiery orator, started his speech in his trademark high-energy style. He began by declaring that 15 August is not an ordinary day and people have laid down their lives, spent entire lives in jail to free the country. 
He then proceeded to underline the strength of the nation - it's diversity and its simplicity. "Our unity, our simplicity, our sense of brotherhood are our biggest assets. These assets should be never hurt, they should remain unblemished. If our unity breaks, we break. 

"Be it the poison of casteism or the fire of communalism, we have to end all this with development.

The Prime Minister plugs in his government's initiatives
The Independence Day speech has been used by former parties and Prime Ministers as promotional opportunities for their respective governments. With the UPA in power, one would hear no end of praises for the NREGA and RTI. 

Now, it's the BJP's turn. So, as soon as the Prime Minister started his speech, his harped on the need to make the society and economy inclusive. Always armed with clever speeches, Modi folded in the reference to MyGov.in in his explanation on how to run a truly democratic country. As he emphasised the need to have the country's citizens participate in its governance, he mentioned that the PMO's website is doing just that. "We get thousands of suggestions everyday," he said.

Calling the country 'Team India', PM Modi then went on to tell us how the government has included the poor in the economy. "After Independence, several banks were nationalised to make them accessible to one and all. However. So many years after Independence, the country's poor don't have bank accounts. The doors of banks are closed for them. That's why we launched the Jan Dhan Yojana. Now 17 crore poor have bank accounts
"Whether the accounts have money or not, whether we spend money on paperwork, we still wanted to make sure that the poor have bank accounts."
After Jan Dhan Yojana, the Prime Minister quickly rattled off the names and the benefits of other schemes launched by his government: Atal Pension Yojana, Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana.

Now it's the turn of the government's favourite initiative: Swachh Bharat
How long would it be, before Swachh Bharat surfaced in PM Modi's speech? Turns out, not too long. 
So PM Modi reminded us that he had spoken about the need for toilets during his first speech as the Prime Minister of the country. "Some of you must have thought, why is he talking about toilets from the Red Fort? But all surveys revealed that toilets were the immediate need of the country, we worked on that."
Then he proceeded to explain how Swachh Bharat has influenced people. He said that children have taken up the burden and now tick off people who they find are littering streets etc. 
"I bow my head in respect before those children. They will carry the legacy forward," he said, 
He also thanked celebrities and media for their help in promoting the initiative.
However, if you look around you and the amount of garbage, the rampant spitting, littering on the country's streets, you wonder if anyone has been listening to the Prime Minister at all. 

PM Modi talked about corruption. Is that a ploy to defend his party and take a dig at the Congress?
The biggest challenge facing the BJP following the monsoon session is the allegation of corruption. Ironically, it was the same allegation that the party had lobbed against the Congress and then used to rout the latter from the country. No wonder then that the Vyapam Scam and the Lalitgate scandal puts the government in a sticky situation. 
PM Modi had remained uncharacteristically quiet in the Lok Sabha, leaving the defence of his party to Arun Jaitley. 
However, he decided to take a roundabout way of hitting back at the Congress. Especially since, at an Independence Day speech, he is least likely to face interruptions or questions. Curiously enough, he didn't even name the Congress this time. He probably had enough punch in the way of numbers, to help him try distracting the country from allegations of corruption against his government and turn India's focus on the several crimes of the Congress. 

As expected, the coal block allocations came up. However, in a very novel way this time. PM Modi said, "When the CAG said that the country had lost Rs 1,74,000 crore due to unfair coal block allocations, I was stumped. I used to talk about it during speeches but I thought, it couldn't be that much.
"However, when we came to power, we were shocked. We immediately ordered the re-auction of coal blocks. The government has made Rs 3 lakh crore from the fair auction of coal blocks this time."
The Prime Minister will be hoping that the country does that math and exonerate his party of the allegations against them maybe. 
To strengthen his case further, he declared valiantly, "No one can allege corruption worth even a paisa against my government."

PM Modi continued to emphasise his government's commitment to end corruption
The Prime Minister continued to wax eloquent about the government's various measures to rein in corruption. He mentioned that by asking affluent to people to give up LPG subsidies, he has managed to end corruption worth Rs 15,000 crore in the sector.
One of the biggest critiques of the Modi government harps on his promise to bring back black money, but his government's failure to do so. Since he doesn't have much success to flaunt in the area, Modi came up with a new line of defence. He said that he has made sure that no one dares to stash black money abroad anymore. "We have created the SIT. We have made a law which will make it impossible for people to save black money abroad. It has inconvenienced a lot of people. However, all that money will now come to the country's coffers and aid in development."
He called corruption a 'bimari' (disease), one that needs a strong medicine. "It will have side effects, but that is the only way to end corruption," he declared, exhorting the country to ask itself, 'if this is not commitment to end corruption, what is'.

PM Modi finally talked on the One rank, One Pension issue
In a veiled attack on the Congress, Modi brought up the One Rank One Pension (OROP). At the very outset, he declared that while there has been a lot of talk around it, other governments haven't been able to make much progress in the right direction.
"The issue of 'One Rank One Pension' came up in front on every government. Some even made small promises. Issue could not be solved."
However, he assured that his government is committed to the cause and will do something about it very soon. "I assure the servicemen and I am saying it under the Tricolour from the Red Fort- we have accepted OROP. Some talks are still on." 
Given that OROP is one of the pet issues Rahul Gandhi keeps talking about in speeches, the Opposition may have to come up with a new strategy. Well played Prime Minister!

PM Modi talks about promoting entrepreneurship
The Prime Minister spoke about promotion entrepreneurship among the country's youth, especially among the Dalits. He proposed Dalit Udyogkari and Adivasi loans and exhorted banks to help the backward sections of the country develop. "We are looking at systems for enabling start-ups. We must be Number 1 in start-ups. 'Start-up India' & 'Stand up India," he said, before concluding speech. 

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