Let me start this blog by
wishing all readers a very Happy Independence day.
In today’s blog I will
analyse Modi’s Independence Day speech.
In what can be described
as one of the best Independence Day speech in our recent history. After seeing
a decade of a puppet PM on a string, hiding behind a glass box (I still wonder why MMS use to deliver a
speech from the bullet proof bracket. Who the hell on this earth with sane mind
would ever even try to assassin MMS) and reading in reverse from Urdu texts
we have a Prime Minister who talks from the heart and talks extempore.in
the It has always been a favorite, almost obsessive pastime of India to show
its politicians a mirror which reveals their ugly face — corrupt, incompetent
and self-serving. Now, finally, a politician has shown India a mirror which
reveals an almost equally ugly face — disrespecting of women, filthy and
totally self-serving. It needed someone with the confidence of a Narendra Modi
to admonish a constantly self-pitying citizenry or allow me to be blunt; we are
hypocrites of the highest levels.
The fact is that both
India's rulers and its ruled had got used to living in a political economy of
entitlements. The dynasts for long believed that they had a right to be the
ruling class. In turn, they would provide entitlements to the impoverished
masses — from free food to free schooling to doles. It might well have been a
cosy and functional arrangement, except that the rulers failed to adequately
deliver the promised entitlements to the citizenry. The voters obliged the
"entitled" rulers with their votes, but got little in return. They
had every right to be angry and show their leaders a mirror. The rulers could
never, not with any legitimacy anyway, admonish the citizens for their many
failings. In his I-Day speech these are the problems in govt. that Modi talked
about that there are governments within the govt. that are operating at cross
purposes. Predictably, the pessimistic ones from the media
and, of course, the Congress couldn’t see anything positive about Modi’s
speech, his vision or his attention to key issues that touch the lives of
people. They are used to grandiose bull shit like “Garibi Hatao” or “Aam
Aadmi” non-sense.
Clearly, Modi wants to
change the entrenched relationship between the ruler and the ruled. He is
uniquely positioned to do so. He was never "entitled" to rule. If
anything, he was always considered unfit to rule by the entrenched ruling class
(which would have been happy with any mainstream alternative to Modi within the
BJP). He has risen to the top overcoming several obstacles, many of which
involved reforming his own personality and attitude. Modi has little patience
for a citizenry which expects the government to spoon feed it. He will simply
not allow all of India's failures to be placed at the door of his government.
Society and individuals will have to share the blame for failure, while also
sharing the credit for success. It is only natural that even in a speech of
nearly an hour, no one can touch upon all the issues that concern India.
Therefore, the right thing to do would be to talk about what he did say. And
Modi did touch upon many issues from toilets to sons being more responsible to
avoid crimes. He talked about cleanliness and hygiene. These are things that
affect every citizen. He talked mostly about things that are clearly within the control
of each citizen which does not take rocket science to do. He
talked to the “people” directly and not to the usual “Durbaris” and useless
“Pundits” to seek any applause from them.
One of the most
important slogans from the speech that impressed me is “Make in India”.
Let’s analyse the history
of Indian Manufacturing carefully. The US is a genius when it comes to “branding”
and marketing. Ask a kid to name 10 famous brands from the US, I am sure anyone
would be able to recall them. Google, Apple, McDonalds etc. Electronics in the
US are invariably made in Taiwan or even in China. Now try naming 10
Indian brands internationally known. Can we? Given our resources and population
we could have been a manufacturing giant without sacrificing our advantages in
other sectors. A dramatic upward change in our industrial manufacturing output
is inevitable and a must for our economic growth. The Chinese are no good at
branding or marketing but they have become the manufacturing hub for the world
and at rock bottom prices. No one understands this better than Narendra Modi
who comes from the highly industrialised state of Gujarat.
The reason why we have
failed to realise our potential as a manufacturing giant it is solely due to
the Communist policies of the Congress. There is no difference between
Congress and the Communist who have kept people poor, uneducated, unskilled and unemployable.
Modi stresses on skills and that is absolutely a must for us to become a
manufacturing giant and also self-employment at the individual level. The new
govt has already initiated steps for labour-law reforms which are
essential for the manufacturing investment and growth. A dramatic growth in
manufacturing also brings along with it a huge R&D set-up and the
continuous process of innovation and value addition.
Second important point
is women empowerment, and crimes against women.
The world’s largest democracy
has a most pathetic record of highest crimes against women; in todays day and
time when technology is used to save people’s life we Indians use to identify the
sex of the child and then abort it. Now, the government has talked about reservation
for women, women’s force etc. But can women's empowerment be the job of the
state alone? No, society must play ball. Nobody can argue against the fact that
the law and order machinery has to be overhauled to ensure that crimes against
women are prevented and prosecuted more efficiently than now. But can the law
and order machinery alone eliminate violence against women? It will always be
tough for any law enforcement to prevent female foeticide. Modi is on the right
track by demanding that the people at large also take responsibility for
progressive change.
While he listed out many
things which includes; sanitation, village modernization, highways, broadband connectivity
and many more. What Modi has done is drawn an excellent picture of India,
Implementation is what is key to India’s problem.
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