Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech of 2014

On the occasion of delivering his first ever Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a whole lot of important observations. While some of these had political undertones, and while many were of playing to the galleries, there were a few very pertinent points that needs to be highlighted.

‘It is the pride of Constitution that a boy from a poor family has unfurled the flag at Red fort today’. Of course, there are other examples of such a rise from a common man to a position of power – Lal Bahadur Shastri and A P J Abdul Kalam are two such names. They had humble beginnings and their rise shows that democracy always pays dividends.

‘When we hear about incidents of rape, our heads hang in shame. … I want to ask every mother and father, you ask your daughters 'where are you going, who are you going with'. But do you ever ask your sons these questions? After all, those who rape are also someone's son.’ – Another very pertinent observation but, then, the free-for-all depicted in movies is equally to blame.

‘The world used to think we are a land of snake charmers and black magic. But our youth has surprised the world with its IT skills. I dream of a digital India’. – Fine, but, even today, superstition rules supreme and reports keep surfacing of characters who prey on people in the name of God.

‘If we keep our country clean, no one can come from outside and spoil it.’ – Another very relevant issue. We love to spit pan and tobacco juices on the roads and in corners of public buildings.

‘All schools should have toilets. There should be separate toilets for schools. I urge all MPs to spend one year's funds to construct toilets’. – Yes, no one would doubt that but, the ground reality is that allotted funds are misused and find their way into pockets instead of projects.

‘It is a shame that our women have to wait for darkness to go out in the open to defecate. Can't we build toilets for the security of our women?’ – Another stark reality and no amount of imploring by celebrities will change it unless it comes from within.

The oratory powers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are next to none. He has a wonderful team of advisors who can coin appropriate phrases for any occasion at the drop of a hat. Within the past year, he has traveled to plenty of countries to spread the message of a ‘Rising India’. Let us pray and hope that a new dawn really dawns on the horizon for India.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Narendra Modi, the man of many slogans

Slogans and leaders are inseparable and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no exception. He has revealed his knack of coining slogans – he loves to coin them at the drop of a hat and ensures that his slogans reach the target audience without fail.
The speed at which he is going, he could very well get his name into the Guinness Book of World Records on this count alone.
Incidentally, the previous Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh never opened his mouth and his successor Narendra Modi does not want to close his.
Among Modi’s famous slogans till date are – make in India which he gave in the Independence Day.
When he visited Nepal in August-2014, he gave them his HIT mantra. HIT was an acronym for Highways, I-Ways and Transways. He suggested such a model for Nepal for its development while speaking to Nepalese parliamentarians in Kathmandu.
During his 5-day tour to Japan in September-2014, he gave his 3-D mantra. He explained that India was ready to offer the three essential 'Ds' for businessmen to thrive namely; Democracy, Demography and Demand.
In anticipation of the visit of China's President Xi Jinping to India during second half of Septenber-2014, , Modi coined the slogan "INCH, that is 'India-China'; towards MILES — 'millennium of exceptional synergy'. "
Some other slogans coined by Indians are: Swaraj (self-rule) is my birthright – this is the slogan coined by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Then there was another one coined by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – give me blood and I will give you freedom. In free India, one famous slogan was ‘Jai jawan, jasi kisan’ – it was coined by Lal Bahadur Shastri during the 1965 war with Pakistan. Then in 1971 came ‘garibi hatao’ of Indira Gandhi.
In the international front, the ‘yes, we can’ slogan has left its mark - it was coined by Barack Obama in 2008 when he became the first black President of the USA.