From standing up for an issue to doing something for the middle class, here’s what young journalists at ThePrint want Modi to address in his 15 August speech.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged citizens to write to him with suggestions for his Independence Day speech Wednesday. ThePrint’s young millennials have some thoughts to offer.
PM Modi can still make a last-ditch attempt at standing up for something
Nandita Singh
PM Modi’s Independence Day speech is more than just a spectacle, it is an opportunity. For a country that tends to idolise its political leaders, the voice of a Prime Minister carries the responsibility of setting a precedent. How much courage will our country allow? How many silences are we ready to break? Come to think of it, what I really want PM Modi to talk about tomorrow is the act of talking itself — freely, and to each other.
A speech can inspire a revolution, incite a riot, trigger a dream or even a mass genocide. To expect the face of the ruling party, under whose thumb the press and people are being silenced, to suddenly abandon this narrative is a little too idealistic even for us, the young. One cannot expect a leader whose throne is placed on divisive politics to change tack months before he goes to the people seeking re-election.
Also read: What’s the point of listening to Modi’s Independence Day speech if we’ve to fact check it?
However, within the ambit of practicality, Modi can still make a last-ditch attempt at standing up for something — for women as people rather than daughters; for the need for sex education; for breaking the barriers of caste; for condemning lynchings and honour killings; for the freedom of speech, expression and the media; for the country’s increasingly polluted environment; and for a substantive, rather than nominal, separation of state and temple.
There is a common thread running through the schemes promoted by the PM — they speak of building the foundations of a modern democracy without ever really addressing its main component: the people and the ways in which we relate to each other. Take it a step further, Prime Minister. Push the boundaries of the definitions that have caged the country I hoped to grow up in.
Dear Prime Minister, take a deep breath, think and tweet sensibly
Avishek Jha
Prime Minister Modi’s words on lynching being unacceptable have not been heeded. Moral policing and sexual abuse continues to be perpetrated. A lot of those accused of these cases and of instigating hate and violence have social media handles that Modi follows, but he has not addressed this issue.
His monologues generate TRPs, but they do not score well on goodwill among the masses of people that look up to him or still believe in the constitutional significance of the post he holds.
The ‘New India’ of Modi’s dreams cannot be based on the precepts of restrictive individual liberties, threats to freedom of speech, of worship, of cuisine, or even clothing. The defenders of his government claim that the instances of violence are not just happening under Modi’s rule, and then immediately indulge in ‘whataboutery’.
Also read: India celebrated Modi’s ill-thought Independence Day speech but it hurt Balochistan badly
Modi ji, the Prime Minister of India needs to take responsibility for the vitiated atmosphere in the country; on social media, for its usage as a platform for polarising opinions further; and for the acts of violence happening around us. Violence is not merely physical. Every act of obstruction and vilification manifests itself differently.
So, when the Prime Minister Modi speaks on Independence Day, he should initiate dialogue and maintain that the ‘New India’ of his dreams is inclusive and tolerant.
I am not interested in what PM Modi says. I am interested in what he does.
Achyut Mishra
When PM Modi delivers a speech on Independence Day, one must approach it with a certain amount of scepticism.
He can provide the details of what all his government has accomplished in the last four years. Or maybe he can share the larger vision he has for India. But in the end, it really won’t matter.
The achievements he lists will be accepted as the truth by his die-hard supporters. After all, for such supporters, Modi has suddenly ushered in Ram Rajya after more than half a century of bleak existence post-independence.
On the other hand, his critics will denounce them as mere claims, with not even a grain of truth in them. For them, it’s as if the country has suddenly transformed itself into an inhospitable dystopia.
Obviously, the reality is far more complicated than these two oversimplifications. But that’s what it boils down to — ‘us versus them’, ‘love him or hate him’.
If the PM talks about his larger vision for India, that won’t matter either. In that instant, we will not know the degree of truth or falsehood that’ll eventually reveal itself.
He may condemn the lynchings but will they really stop? Even if he has a Hindutva agenda, he won’t mention it. And if he really is serious about India’s secular identity, the critics will never buy it.
Also read: In Modi’s final Independence Day speech of this term, look forward to another jumla
So, I am not interested in what the PM says this 15 August. I am more interested in what he does after Independence Day, and for the remainder of his term.
Supporters are supporters, they won’t care about actions. But these actions might assuage the valid concerns of critics.
Modi must address the ignored middle class
Nikhil Rampal
I have heard enough about the last 70 years, surgical strikes and Nehru’s dynasty. This time, I would want Prime Minister Modi to address the unaddressed — the middle class, or in terms of its standing in India’s political discourse, the middle-of-nowhere class.
A lot is said to be done for the country’s poor; a lot is actually done for the rich, but this government has proven to be not much different from its predecessors. The middle class, which voted for Modi en masse on the belief that he’ll bring about change, has been hurt the most. Demonetisation, GST, rising prices of essential commodities and fuel, the devalued rupee — all these have hit the middle class the hardest.
I want the PM to announce something for this class, anything at all — more schools, more colleges, better healthcare, affordable housing, just about anything would do. I urge him to look beyond the votes and try to stop the brain drain that the disgruntled middle class is resorting to.
After all, ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ cannot happen without the middle class being offered something to cheer about.
If NaMo is not showing action, why is the opposition finding the heat and screaming for alliances.
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist,Barnala(Punjab)
First of all, NaMo should be very precise in his discourse ! More he will speak, more he will be prone to a bundle of lies !
Secondly, he will do nation a great favour if he admits his failures with magnanimity and grace if he feels so quite objectively and honestly!
Third, if he honours his slogan ” Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas” in letter and spirit, he must take a pledge from the ramparts of the red fort that he will embrace concept of “inclusive ” growth and development of all sections of society in India !
Fourthly, he must ensure the nation that he would not take decisions in an individual as well as unilateral fashion but do so taking countrymen and opposition in to confidence on issues of paramount national and international significance based on consensus and collective wisdom !
Fifth, he should declare on this occasion sincerely that he would strike a harmonious working relationship with the opposition
parties in the best interests of the nation ! He should promise that he will not shift blame on others for various lapses of his regime !
Then finally, he should not open too many fronts of issues overlapping the same but at present if he assures the nation to strive sincerely on two welfare state concepts of affordable quality education and affordable quality healthcare system in the nation by initiating suitable measures acceptable to all the stakeholders, it can be a worthwhile proposition !
He shouldn’t forget at all that he will have to translate these ideas into actuality if he wishes to make amends for what did go wrong in the past more than four years !
It will be a futile exercise if he repeats the past tales sugar quoted in old style !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest,Barnala (Punjab)
Well said
If there is a second term – as many wish there will be – the principal focus should be on the economy. Whether it is about giving Indian children better nutrition and education, older people better healthcare, projecting Indian interests and power abroad, making our cities more liveable and safe, there is almost nothing worthwhile we can do as a nation without much higher economic growth, care being taken to ensure that it is environmentally sustainable and inequality is addressed. At the moment, the state of the economy is looking like a particularly soft spot on the Report Card. 2. As US presidential candidates do several months before the actual election, this would be a good time to start assembling a potential economic team, tasking it to work on major issues and policies that can be unveiled very early in the second term.