Pakistan, infiltrators, Mahabharat return to Independence Day lexicon after nearly a decade; RSS, critical minerals among new mentions

Pakistan finds mention again after nearly a decade

Pakistan found a direct mention in India’s Independence Day address after nearly a decade, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out the neighbour for sponsoring terrorism and in the context of Operation Sindoor. This is the first time Pakistan has been directly named since 2016, when Modi referred to regions in Pakistan and the Peshawar school attack.

Mahabharata also resurfaced after 2016, though the reference shifted from Bhim to the Sudarshan Chakra, invoked in the context of building a defence system to protect key installations by 2035.

In one of his longest I-Day speeches, Modi mentioned Pakistan three times, the most in 14 years. In contrast, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his first term, struck a more conciliatory tone, calling for dialogue. From 2009 onwards, however, Singh took a tougher stance, urging Islamabad to act against terrorist bases.

Modi's 2025 speech also saw the return of several other terms absent in recent years. Food security featured for the first time since 2021, Covid after a gap of two years, and Swadeshi after 2022. Infiltrators returned to the lexicon for the first time since 2017, with Modi warning of plots to alter India’s demography and announcing a “Demography Mission” to counter such threats.

Naxalism and Maoism, which Modi highlighted eight times in 2025 to showcase progress in curbing extremism, were mentioned again this year.

Several expressions made their debut in Modi’s I-Day vocabulary. He accused Pakistan’s army chief of “nuclear blackmail”, praised the "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" (RSS) for its achievements in its centenary year, flagged “critical minerals” as vital to India's self-reliance goal, and introduced the “creator economy” to underline the role of the digital economy in economic growth.