NaMo : Excelling on Independence Day; But....

It is rare indeed when a political leader truly connects with the masses; it is rarer still when he both connects with, and rips into the masses and their habits, holding them singularly responsible for a number of habits... This is what Shri Narendra Modi achieved on the 15th of August 2014 from the ramparts of The Red Fort, New Delhi...

At the outset, let me concede that I was extremely lucky on 2 counts : first, I happened to read the speech before I listened to it; and two - I was extremely lucky to see this day with my eyes, and listen to it with my ears. Not because of what some people say - "Vande Mataram, Hindi Speech etc"; but because of some other reasons that I shall detail in this post. I started listening to it on youtube,, but stopped midway - around 14:00 - when the sheer power of his skills in oration began clouding by ability to judge. Our PM is a truly magical persona, indeed... proud to be Indian at this moment...

I subsequently listen to the entire speech, and was truly glad that I did both - read it first, and listened to the speech as well. It was one of the most original, brilliant single pieces of oratory one is likely to see; it was combined with a genuine approach towards the subject matter - at no point was it contrived, or made up. The effort seemed genuine!

Before we go ahead, let us take a look at the bullet points of his speech from www.livemint.com : PM Speech 15 Aug :

1. Pradhan Sevak
2. Nation built by people; Respect Indian Constitution 
3. Ancient Heritage; Consensus - Not Majority
4. Dysnfunctional, infighting Bureaucracy
5. Selfish Masses - I-Me-Myselfism
6. Rape : Why not ask men and hold them accountable at home, in place of {or in addition to} protecting women?
7. Nepal example; shed violence; connect with Democracy
8. Shun Communalism
9. Sex Ratio; Societal Imbalance; Contribution of Women
10. Development, Good Governance, People should be service oriented
11. Bank Account For All
12. Skill Development
13. Made In India
14. Indian Image transformed by our professionals
15. Cleaniless, filth everywhere; Drive to clean it up
16. Model Village; schemes not by personality names, but by Sansad
17. Active involvement of States, Federalism, No Planning Commission
18. Defeat Poverty by SAARC together

Looked at it in such  a dispassionate manner, bulletted and enumerated : a few points become immediately visible even to the untrained eye. But more of that later; first  let me concentrate on the PM's delivery skills a bit more. I dont profess to explain it: not possible for me; but he does have almost  a magical pull, a charm about him that forces people to listen to him - that is beyond contest. The way he went about it, and his presentation was tremendous, and well-thought out.

It has been called an extempore speech; I dont think so. It was delivered, or rather - it seemed to be delivered extemporaneously, and spontaneously; but the thought and effort was showing. It was not apparent in the speech; but when you read it - it jumps at you. A good deal of thought, effort and planning went into it; which makes it all the more impressive - as it means that Shri Narendra Modi was intent on sending a message to all Indians on the occasion of Independence Day; He was also sending a clear message to the world as well as Indians. He was blasting his citizens for their ridiculous habits - and I can only feel a tinge of sadness. No pride, just shame and sadness at some of the content...

It is a sad day indeed when the Prime Minister of a nation has to exhort the country for such mundane items as Cleanliness, How to treat Women, Selfishness of the masses, Rape, Sex Ratio... how far have we fallen? How far indeed? I do recall Modiji also saying the same words, or words to that effect. Those words jolted me;  indeed he is right. What have we as a people become? How sad a condition it is if the Prime Minister is having to talk of such things? He held up a mirror to the masses - and the image in it was ugly. 

The good part is that it was nice to see someone of his stature stand up and rip off the mask of propriety from the citizenry in no uncertain terms; it felt good to see Modiji rip off the mask from the farce of Governance we had earlier, and showcase attempts to set things right. Best of all, prima facie, based on current evidence, this is being done by simple tactics without a witch hunt. Will it have an impact? I hope so, given his fan-following and his oratory skills, his tremendous connect with the masses. I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

For the rest, the speech focused on Skill Development, Manufacturing and Industry, & Bank Accounts for all; reams have been written about this in other articles, so I shall not dwell much on this, except to make a couple of observations on Made in India dream - this addresses a significant issue in our economy, or set of issues, rather - if we pull it off, it will be great; and there is no reason why we cant. 

Moving on, I dont agree with other analysts on the lack of substance. Sure, he could have been more specific, and focused on the nitty-gritty : making business environment simpler, introducing GST, etc etc. It has to be remembered that this is not a planning meeting; this is a national address. Such sessions have to, perforce, be high on ideals and goals, and low on the practicalities and the nuts-n-bolts.  This was a vision statement for the nation, as well as a not-so-gentle reminder of our faults from the Head Of The Family. And like it or not, Shri Narendra Modi is the Head Of Our Family, our Prime Minister : whether or not you voted for him. 

And that is where the problem lies. In Skill Development, there was no mention of primary and secondary school education or its quality - let alone plans to address this. The focus lay elsewhere. There was no mention of this serious issue. The vision statement was  totally silent on health issues, and lack of facilities in rural areas. It made no mention of these vital parameters, and related aspects - schools and PHCs in villages - taking education and Health to the masses; this is where the real concentration should have been. It made mention of Bank Accounts and Toilets - but no hint of education and medicine. This is worrying. No mention of rising prices : the single biggest issue facing us in the near term. 

It was totally silent on Corruption - not one word. Not one single word; not even a homily to the masses to stop paying a bribe. If you can exhort the masses to treat women better, clean your cities etc- why cant you attend to this as well? It would have been a relatively easy thing to do; and yet - it was totally ignored. It made not even one observation on the quality of politicians who govern our nation and on the criminalisation of politics. Nothing, nada, zilch. I wonder why? 

Corruption, Education & Health  plus Prices are all as important as toilets and Skill Development; in such a fantastic speech that was genuine and hit all the right notes, these omissions were jarring, leading me to wonder - are we going wrong in our single minded chase to become a developed nation? What about inclusive growth? For, one thing is clear : The focus was development as a people, and development as a nation. Poverty was both mentioned as well as focused -  but the specifics and the practicalities touched upon in the speech did not gel with the goal of poverty eradication. True, these might be taken up later on in the real world - but nevertheless the omission was a jarring note; it needed a mention of these 3 aspects as well... as these are the biggest issues facing India at the moment. 

The reason - there is simply no way or earth that poverty can be reduced without good schools & hospitals where the people need them, at a price they can afford... these, along with corruption, are our biggest problems. And our Prime Minister was silent on these points, which struck the only jarring note in an otherwise flawless speech that was loaded with pertinent and excellent content.. I can only hope that these are on the radar, and will be attended to alongwith the other practicalities... 

Please do update me in case I have missed something, and the negatives were also mentioned; I have no intention of being wrong