Leaders bare their hearts on I-Day stage

Independence Day is when the nation looks at itself, assessing the years of freedom and takes a measure of the challenges in the coming years. Prime ministers and chief ministers use the pulpit to talk to the people about the achievements and plans of their governments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his vantage position to present his achievements over the last 10 years, and project his agenda for the near future and a Viksit Bharat by 2047. Making the country a developed nation by 2047 is an aspirational idea for all Indians, though there are differences about the nature of development and how it should be achieved. The prime minister has promised reforms and missions in many areas, and he presented and explained many of them.

Prime ministers are political beings, and many of the claims and proposals made by Modi will be contested and judged in political terms in the coming days. The proposal for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is a Constitutional ideal and enjoys wide acceptance. But it is wrong to turn it into a political move to target a minority community. The proposal for a ‘one nation, one election’ system, pushed by the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is sure to be opposed by many across the county as it is a tendentious and self-serving move which will upend the country’s electoral system. Even the BJP’s alliance partners may not support the proposal. Women’s safety is an important issue, and the prime minister is right in demanding quick investigation and punishment for those who abuse women. All governments, including Modi’s, have failed on this front. The current government failed to act on the complaints of well-known wrestlers about sexual harassment. The proposal to bring one lakh youth into politics will be controversial. The BJP as a party is free to recruit politicians but if the prime minister’s proposal is for the government to recruit young persons from non-political families for political positions, that is bound to be contentious.

Independence Day is as much the states’ day as it is the Centre’s. Across the country, chief ministers, ministers, and others held conversations with people on their plans, ideas, and hopes. In Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that his government’s guarantee schemes would continue. In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M K Stalin announced a scheme for the supply of subsidised medicines. Punjab expressed its concerns over water resources, and Mizoram unveiled an institution to monitor development. Every state had its say on its high stage. Independence Day is the day for their free articulation.