The Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality in PM Modi’s I-Day Speech

National healing, apparently, is not this government’s priority. Nor indeed, is reality, writes Shashi Tharoor.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers his fourth Independence Day speech, The Quint debates whether the claims on the front of foreign policy, internal security and economy are reassuring. You can read the Counter-View by Vinay Sahasrabuddhe here.

The Prime Minister’s speech was like the proverbial curate’s egg; good, in parts. He is a marvelous speaker, with a genuine flair for words, and none of us begrudge him that. It’s what he says with those words, acronyms and alliterations, however, that raises our concerns.

The PM’s speech made national security a priority and indulged in some chest-thumping: “Even the world acknowledged our power after the surgical strikes”.

While the Congress party stands second to none in its support for our Armed Forces, the gap between the rhetoric of the Modi Government and its actual performance in national security is an embarrassment.

Since May 2014, 172 terrorist incidents have occurred (13 major terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir alone), 578 personnel of our brave security forces have been martyred, and 877 civilians have lost their lives in such attacks. The number of incidents of violence has risen successively in the past three years after having shown a declining trend earlier. The surgical strikes, though ably conducted, have been followed by 300 cease-fire violations since; they have had no decisive deterrent effect.