If a week is a long time in politics, a year is almost forever. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech from the ramparts of Red Fort listed a blizzard of promises and schemes; it was delivered with the confidence of a man who had just assumed power. Some of that sheen has come off since. Mr Modi is certainly still popular, but it is likely that his promises will be subjected to greater scrutiny now. Whatever the reasons, few major new initiatives were announced this year. No major new schemes were revealed except the slogan on Start-up India, Stand-up India. While creating a start-up environment is vastly important, government intervention in this sector carries its dangers. Ideally the government should create an enabling regulatory structure and not get involved in the start-up movement itself.
More than a policy speech, therefore, Mr Modi's Independence Day address should be viewed as a political message. It comes at a time when Parliament has been paralysed over corruption charges against various leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Thus the speech focused on how the government has been tough on corruption; the PM mentioned that the CBI handling of cases has more than doubled; the Special Investigation Team is at work to bring black money to India, and a strict black money law has already brought back Rs 6,500 crore. The trouble is that, as this newspaper has pointed our earlier, such an approach has the potential of taking the country back to the statist policies of the 1970s. It is not just there that elements of the pre-1991 past crept in to Mr Modi's proposals. For example, the speech suggested linking investments with the creation of jobs; but this can also be problematic in its implementation, as was seen in the 1980s policy of linking concessional imports to export obligations. And the idea of a new department for farmers' welfare raises the question about the campaign claim of minimum government and maximum governance.
Much, however, has been done, as the address pointed out. The focus on inflation, infrastructure and the elimination of middlemen through Aadhaar and related direct benefits transfer schemes is laudable. Mr Modi listed out the achievements of the Jan Dhan Yojana, toilets and financial security schemes. They highlight as much the positive strides made in each of those vital sectors as the many more challenges in these very areas, for instance, in ensuring financial access and the sustainability of functioning toilets.
Not only did last year's speech have greater flourish and a wider range of promises than this year, it was different in one other important aspect. Last year, the PM reached out in statesmanlike manner to the Opposition, and praised previous governments. This year, however, the speech failed to make any overtures to the Opposition. Such might be necessary to push ahead the stalled legislative agenda. Instead, the speech made no bones about the many failures of previous administrations - and, in doing so, it may have hardened the Opposition stance even further.
