August 15 musings

MY DEADLINE FOR this week's column fell on Independence Day. I woke early to catch every moment of the Prime Minister's speech because I believe it is the most important speech that prime ministers give.

- Tavleen Singh

As I watched Narendra Modi mount those famous ramparts in a saffron turban, I remembered other prime ministers, other speeches. In days when security was not a problem I would toddle along to the Red Fort and sit in the humidity and heat among an audience of ordinary people who all felt the need on this day to invoke feelings of patriotism and pride.

A truly memorable Red Fort moment was to listen to Indira Gandhi on August 15, 1975. This was barely six weeks after she had declared the Emergency, jailed Opposition leaders and made journalists like me redundant because of press censorship. I remember noticing that she had a nervous twitch on one side of her face and she looked scared. Probably because she must have just been given the news that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family had been massacred that day. The Bangladesh story was beginning to unravel in an ugly and violent way.

To return to the present, may I say that I thought Narendra Modi began his speech in a prime ministerial way by painting a picture of India's future that was optimistic and hopeful. I liked very much to hear that there would be major economic and governance reforms coming and that by the end of this year we will see the first Indian-made chip on the market. But the speech was too long to be outstanding. He lost me when he switched to sarpanch mode, and meandered on about obesity and fitness. One big reason for Modi having become prime minister were his speeches.