Don't bother shortening others' line, focus on making yours longer: Was PM hinting at Pak & US?

What seemed to be a potshot at Pakistan and the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his 12th Independence Day speech to emphasise that India should not waste its energy to shorten someone else’s line, but it should rather be used to make one’s own line longer.

On Friday, the prime minister delivered a strong message from the Red Fort, saying: “Kisi doosre ki lakeer chhoti karne ke liye, apni oorja hamari nahi khapani hai. Hamein poori oorja ke saath hamari lakeer ko lamba karna hai (To shorten someone else’s line, we should not waste our own energy. We must use our full energy to lengthen our own line).”

The prime minister urged the people of the country not to sit and lament over the global crisis. “Today, when economic selfishness is rising day by day in the global situation, it is the need of the hour that we don’t sit crying over those crises. Himmat ke saath apni lakeer ko lambi karein…If we take that path, no selfishness will be able to entangle us,” PM Modi said.

A jab at the US and Pakistan?

Many saw PM Modi’s mention of global economic selfishness as a jibe at US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on different nations around the world. India-US ties seemed to sour after Trump announced nearly 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.

Trump went on to accuse India of committing “unfair trade practices” and slammed New Delhi for purchasing oil from Russia amid the war in Ukraine. India condemned the decision and called out the West’s Double standards. New Delhi noted how China purchases more Russian oil, but no such measures were taken against Beijing.

Meanwhile, PM Modi’s statement can also be seen as India’s stance against Pakistan, since a significant part of his speech was about Operation Sindoor. In his speech, the prime minister hailed the success of the operation and lauded the role of the Indian military that conducted precision strikes against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The operation, he said, was an expression of India’s outrage at the Pahalgam terrorists’ attack in which “husbands were killed in front of their wives and fathers were killed in front of their children after asking their religion.” “I am very proud that from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I am getting the opportunity to salute the heroes of Operation Sindoor. Our brave jawans punished the enemy beyond its imagination,” he said.

“On 22nd April, terrorists from across the border came to Pahalgam and killed people after asking their religion…Entire India was outraged, and the entire world was shocked by such a massacre. Operation Sindoor is the expression of that outrage,” the prime minister furthered.