Decoding PM Modi’s Rajya Sabha address: Shock and awe for Congress; vision for ‘Vikshit Bharat’, aspirational India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at Rajya Sabha, his reply to the Motion of Thanks on President’s statement, was his final address to the Parliament in this term. The prime minister seemed convinced that his third term is a mere formality, and as such his Wednesday’s speech may be interpreted as the official launch of BJP’s general election campaign. The prime minister is an orator nonpareil. His Rajya Sabha oration took off from where he left it at Lok Sabha on Monday, and both his addresses should be viewed as a coherent whole instead of two separate discourses. While he set the terms of election campaign with an audacious 370-seat target for BJP (and 400+ for NDA) at the Lower House, at the Upper House he revealed two major themes. The first was an unabashed attack on Congress packed with sardonic wit, humour and facts. The second was laying down the vision for Modi government 3.0 — with a subliminal message that election results are almost a foregone conclusion. This was as much a message to the voters as to the Opposition that they stop wasting time in forming unnatural alliances to keep him at bay. Mind games aside, the speech was a masterclass in political messaging. Worth noting that Modi once again trained his guns exclusively on Congress, and he came to the floor well-prepared with a battery of facts, annotations and quotes to rebut and ridicule each of Congress’s poll agendas one by one. It was excruciating or exhilarating, depending on which side of the political fence you sit. This facet needs to be explored. Given the fact that Congress is struggling to retain its relevance, footprint and has been reduced to a cipher, and given the fact that BJP’s toughest opponents are regional outfits such as Trinamool Congress or DMK, why did the prime minister repeatedly and singularly attack the grand old party? Interesting to note that late on Wednesday night Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu called on Union home minister Amit Shah at his residence in New Delhi late purportedly to join the NDA alliance ahead of elections in April-May. Evidently the BJP wants to keep its options open in pre-and-post-poll scenarios. Even though it appears to be the frontrunner in the upcoming elections with the Congress gasping for breath, the BJP wants to leave nothing to chance. That is the kind of realpolitik, tactical planning and killer instinct Modi and Shah bring to the table. Modi’s speech on Wednesday took out Congress’s election campaign through targeted attacks against two key issues raised by Congress — ‘social justice’ and ‘north-south divide’. Rahul Gandhi has been positioning himself as a ‘champion’ for Dalits, Adivasis and backward sections of the society and recently launched a high-octane campaign, promising to “throw out” the 50 per cent cap on reservation if INDI Alliance is voted to power. To rebut Congress’s narrative on social justice, Modi sought to prove that Congress has always been anti-reservation and acted against the interests of backward classes, and presented BJP as the true champion of SC, ST and OBCs. Modi alluded to a letter written by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to then chief ministers, where the Congress leader writes, “I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in services. I react strongly against anything which leads to inefficiency and second-rate standards. I want my country to be a first-class country in everything. The moment we encourage the second-rate, we are lost. The only real way to help the Backward group is to give opportunities of good education… But if we go in for reservations on communal and caste basis, we swamp the bright and able people and remain second-rate or third-rate.” Modi added that “Nehruji used to say that if SC, ST or OBCs get reservation in jobs, then government work standards will fall. He even stopped recruitment. What Nehruji said has been pathhar ki lakeer (set in stone) for the Congress since. Your mindset can be understood through such examples.” Without naming Rahul Gandhi, who has questioned the lack of backward classes’ representation in higher offices in public service, Modi said, “That is why I say that they are against it (reservation) by birth…Had the government recruited at that time and promoted them from time to time, they would have been here today…” To hit the point home even more brutally, Modi referred to the treatment meted out to former Congress president Sitaram Kesri, an OBC leader, who won the Congress presidency in September 1996 but was unceremoniously removed from the post two years later to make space for Sonia Gandhi. According to reports, Kesri, a Dalit, was “locked in a room at the Congress headquarters to prevent him from interfering with Sonia Gandhi’s taking over as the Congress president.” Referring to the incident, Modi said, “Kesri, who was from a most backward class, was picked up and thrown on the footpath… That video is available.” The prime minister added, “The Congress that didn’t give reservations to OBC, one who never gave reservations to the poor from general category, the one who didn’t consider Babasaheb (Ambedkar) for Bharat Ratna and instead kept on giving the award to their family members, they are giving us lessons on social justice today…” The prime minister’s withering criticism was reserved for Congress’s new ‘injustice to southern states’ agenda. Close on the heels of a Congress leader’s comments that southern states may clamour for a “separate nation” over distribution of tax funds — a controversial statement issued by Congress MP and Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh, the state’s chief minister Siddaramaiah along with cabinet members are in Delhi to protest alleged “discrimination” against Karnataka and the other southern States with regard to the devolution of taxes. Union finance minister N Sitharaman has already refuted the charges in Parliament with facts and figures, calling Congress’s campaign “patently wrong and mischievous”. Modi sounded outraged at Congress’s “injustice for South” narrative, lashing out at the grand old party for running a divisive agenda aimed at Balkanizing India. In an impassioned plea, the prime minister called the idea of an “independent South India” put forward by the Congress “dangerous to the future of the country”. “The way new narratives are being made for political gains. An entire state (Karnataka) is speaking this language of secessionism, nothing can be worse for the country than this…what language have we started saying?” Modi fumed, adding that such narratives could jeopardize the country’s future. “What is this thinking? And it is very painful that such language is emerging from a national party, it is very sad.” He added that “tThe nation is not just land for us, but an inspirational unit. When a thorn pricks one’s foot, the hand immediately reaches out to extract the irritant instead of saying that it has nothing to do with what has happened to the foot. The eyes water in pain. If one part of the body does not work, the whole body is considered disabled. If one part of the country is backward, the nation suffers. A nation cannot progress unless its most backward sections, that have been deprived of development, progress as well. “A national party is thinking of such things? What language is being used today? ‘Our tax, our money’? Stop searching for new narratives to break the nation. We have to take the whole nation forward… If a Jharkhand boy gets an Olympic medal, do we think he is from Jharkhand? We say he is from our country. If we spend on that boy, it is for the country, not for Jharkhand. Will we ask in which state or city of the country a vaccine was made?” Modi asked to cries of “shame, shame” from the Treasury benches. In an oratorical flourish, the prime minister added, “I want to ask… what if Himalaya starts saying these rivers originate from me, I won’t give you their water? If coal-rich states start saying that coal is their property and others should just live in darkness, how will the country function? During the pandemic, the country needed oxygen cylinders, if people of the east had turned adamant that oxygen belongs to them and our people need it… we cannot give it to countrymen, what would have been the situation? The second aspect of Modi’s speech was a concrete vision for making Bharat a “vikshit” nation, for which he vowed to implement structural reforms and lay the foundation in his third term. He said “for us, ‘Vikshit Bharat’ is not a slogan but a commitment. It is Modi’s guarantee.” “In the coming five years, the strength of India’s youth in the world within sports will be recognised. In the next five years, the public transport is going to be transformed — the country will see Bullet Train and the expansion of Vande Bharat,” he added. “In the next five years, ‘Made in India’ will echo in the semiconductor world, and we will be the leader in electronics…I launched a campaign for millet through the UN. I do not see that day far away, where in the coming five years, the superfood produced by the small farmers of our village will be available in the world market. Drones will be a new strength for farmers, building on the ‘Drone Didi’ initiative launched recently.” Modi also promised to nurture animal husbandry and fish farming that, he said, will increase production and “create records.” Calling his third term an inevitability, the prime minister said Modi 3.0 “will put its all might to strengthen the nation’s foundation”. He said all flagships programmes like PM Kisan, PM Awas Yojna, free ration, Ayushman Bharat, and cheaper medicines (Jan Aushadhi Kendra), will continue, there will be a quantum jump in the number of doctors, medical colleges and medical treatment will become more accessible. He also promised to cover the entire nation with piped gas network, tap water, solar power, and said that India will see more startups, more unicorns, record number of patents, greater participation in international sporting events and transformation of the tourism sector that could turn India into a top tourist destination. Tourism, he said, will be a big money spinner and generate employment. In sum, the prime minister’s address was a meticulously prepared political treatise that sought to inflict show and awe on Opposition while catering to the ambitions of an aspirational India. It is foolish to predict elections, but it does seem that the prime minister is confident of another term. That is a stunning statement of confidence borne out of deep conviction in one’s ability to deliver. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. 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