Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken nearly 83,000 words from the ramparts of Red Fort as part of his Independence Day (I-Day) address since he assumed office in 2014.
On Thursday, PM Modi will deliver his 11th consecutive I-Day speech. This will be his first speech since winning a record-equalling third straight term in office. Modi matched Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of three terms as PM. Now, he is set to become the second PM, after Nehru, to address the nation 11 times in a row on August 15.
A closer analysis of his speeches revealed that farmers and poverty were the running themes year on year.
He also used the red-letter day in India’s post-colonial history to make reference to government initiatives. For instance, in 2017, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), a payment application that lets people make transact easily using Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and digital currency found reference for the first time. The announcement was made close on the heels of demonetisation — of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes of the Mahatma Gandhi series — which was announced on November 8, 2016.
2047 has found a reference in each of his speeches since 2021. In his speech last year, he invoked the centenary celebrations as many as seven times in 2023.
Viksit Bharat has been added to his recent gamut of expressions, and the initial reference was made in his 2022 I-Day speech.
An analysis by Moneycontrol showed that the PM made repeated references to corruption in his speeches.
In 2015, his speech contained 8,274 words, of which corruption and various shades of the expression were mentioned 18 times. Farmers and agriculture were referred 49 times in 2015.
Brevity was the PM’s forte in 2017, a year after his lengthy address the previous year — as data showed that he used 5,626 and 10,803 words, respectively, to address the nation on the momentous occasion.
Modi used the platform to announce new schemes to attract the masses. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana found mention in the PM’s first speech in 2014, and Jal Jeevan Mission was announced in 2019.
Last year, he announced the Vishwakarma scheme to provide credit and skilling support to artisans and craftspeople who work with their hands and tools. Governance has been the primary topic of his consideration through the years, as it appeared five times over the past decade. Agriculture topped the list in 2015, 2018 and 2020, followed by corruption in 2022 and 2023 in the run up to a key election year.
Though ‘Make in India’ has been the primary thrust since he came to power in 2014 and was cited seven times in that year, the reference was missing in the following years till it came to the fore in three consecutive addresses in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
With the eye on parliamentary polls this year, whose results were announced on June 4, the PM reached out to women, youth, and spoke of unity, corruption, poverty and inflation in his 2023 I-Day address.
However, the opposition has been missing from Modi’s lexicon since he first mentioned it in his first year in office in 2014.
Will the opposition make a comeback — in light of his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not getting a majority on its own in the recently concluded general elections— in tomorrow’s I-Day speech?
How issues change
Women, farmers, health tax and poverty took centrestage in his speeches ahead of his reelection in both 2019 and 2014. The focus shifted to unity after the PM came back to power.
In 2019, the PM also harped on security in the aftermath of the Balakot strike in Pakistan. The references were made after winning a thumping majority in the general elections and the abrogation of Article 370 in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir on August 5.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
