But ask an impartial analyst and he might say 'no', Modi delivered a speech tempered by coalition but at the same time just that mite independent to allow for bravado. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first I-Day speech of his third term saw him overtaking Manmohan Singh’s 10 speeches and left him third behind Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, with the latter topping at 17 and the “daughter” notching 16.

Depending on “who you read”, Modi’s speech received scintillating reception or a big fat zero. The Opposition called it “Modi addressing a public rally from the ramparts of the Red Fort” and rated it “uninspiring and lacking the ability to unite.” Scroll back to August 15, 2023, or August 15 2019, and it wouldn’t be different. The day somebody else other than Narendra Modi stands atop the ramparts, the Opposition will speak a different language.

The Opposition in 2014 and 2024 had no love lost for Modi. The Prime Minister’s speeches have always got a rough reception in Opposition circles. And but for Janata Dal (U) and Telugu Desam Party, there would have been posters calling out Modi’s “fascist coalition”`. The INDI-Alliance is counting on Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu to see the light of the day, expecting it any day between now and 2029.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11th Independence Day speech, however, gave the impression he would be on the ramparts to give his 15th Independence Day speech, too. Modi’s mother lived to 100. If that isn’t scary, there is the mushroom diet which does wonders to longevity. No wonder Modi is fixated on ‘2047’ and “Viksit Bharat” and he speaks as if this can and will happen only under BJP/NDA rule.

On India’s 78th Independence Day, Narendra Modi mentioned “2047 and Viksit Bharat” to the point of irritation. At the fag end, Modi made an “unequivocal pitch for a secular uniform civil code”. The DD camera swung to focus on CJI DY Chandrachud as Modi garnished the pitch with the "Supreme Court holding discussions and giving orders several times on the UCC”.

“A large section of the country believes - and it is true, that the Civil Code that we are living with is actually a Communal Civil Code....I would say that it is the need of the hour that there be a Secular Civil Code in the country...only then would we be free of the discrimination on the basis of religion," Modi said.

How much the BJP values “secular” is another matter! Will the BJP and PM Modi from now on stop indicting Indira Gandhi’s ‘Emergency’ for smuggling ‘secular’ into India’s Constitution? With his post-2019 addiction to “secularism”, Modi sounded like he would be up “tomorrow morning” making sure of a “secular UCC”. Modi has given advance notification for a 2029 Hindu-Muslim polarization in the making.

There's always the chance of Modi forgetting the UCC. Modi and elections are an ‘item’. So, when Modi talks of “delivering secular civil code” or “one nation-one election”, how multiple elections per annum made things difficult for the India growth story, he sounds like he is spinning a yarn. Modi is ambidextrous – his lies are as believable as his unbelievable truths are not.

How many Indians believe in Modi? Hindus, who want a secular civil code, don’t expect Modi to keep his word and Muslims, who go by their religious code, would expect Modi to not make changes to their way of life. All things considered, Modi will drag out this promise to the extent possible. A “secular Civil Code, free of the discrimination on the basis of religion”, is another of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s figments of imagination.

Point is, enough people have seen through 'Modi Promises’. It doesn’t matter where he delivers them from. From the ramparts of the Lal Qila, Modi feels safe and secure to hold fort! So, whether it’s “Secular Civil Code” or “Viksit Bharat”, or “one nation-one election”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises call for a sack of salt. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speeches have acquired a pattern – elements of them will make it to Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not!”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his head wrapped in colourful headgear, stood out on the ramparts of the Lal Qila as Modi’s ministers sat glued to chairs, unsmiling – their faces as wooden as some of the chairs. The camera zoomed in and found them clapping like impoverished farm-hands.

Except for the children brought in for the show, no two chairs spoke to each other. Most of the adults looked ready to up and go once Modi stopped talking about Bharat’s “golden era” and ‘2047’. Don’t forget the banned Popular Front of India also had a 2047 deadline, but for a very different kind of ‘Bharat’.

On August 15, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood in the midst of unprecedented security – seen and unseen. There were guns and there was “AI security.” The question cropped down to, “How safe was India in her 78th year of independence?” Should we assume “we live in dangerous times” and let it go? Modi made no mention of the soldiers martyred in Doda and Katuwa; and of the renewed infiltrations. He spoke as if oblivious to the controversy surrounding the ‘Agniveer scheme’.

At the end of the day, it was a case of Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering his speech and calling it a day; a day in the office and then going to play with the peacocks. He spoke of atrocities committed against women and how the punishment should be equally harsh, even as CJI DY Chandrachud stiffened in his chair. Modi also spoke of the need to transform India’s agricultural sector as “this is the need of the hour", a phrase which he also used for the “one nation-one election” promise. Other “need of the hour” promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi included “Indians want normalised situation (for Bangladeshi Hindus)”.

His lackadaisical mention irked the Congress which questioned his commitment. How many Indian Hindus will believe that Modi will walk the talk is a matter of contention. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tepid words didn’t give a living chance to Bangladeshi Hindus. He sounded like closing the door on them, and his ears, too. In 1971, the Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi intervened and liberated Bengali Muslims and Bengali Hindus to create Bangladesh. And here’s the Hindu Nationalist Party’s Prime Minister reluctant to talk tough to Bangladesh! Was Modi even committed to CAA? (IPA Service)