I am neither an enthusiastic supporter of Prime Minister Modi nor do I follow him blindly, but I keenly follow his politics since his days as the general secretary of the BJP. I know there is an army of admirers who think he is God’s gift to mankind and was born to make India great again; they vouch that he is the greatest orator India has ever seen. My opinion of him differs. I was never mesmerised by his speeches, finding them mediocre, lacking in substance, and full of rhetoric.

Like everyone, I was also wondering what he was going to say in his address to the nation on a lazy Sunday evening at 5 pm. Like everyone, I also thought there must be some pressing issue on which he wanted to take the country into confidence. Alas! It was his most boring and uninspiring address to the nation. I spoke to a few of his supporters and found I was not too off the mark in my assessment; they too were greatly disappointed.

The PM spoke about the GST and how greatly it would serve the nation, and that from now on, things of daily use would become cheaper. He, due to the unprecedented global situations and grave challenges of foreign policy, emphasised we all should proudly follow the path of Swadeshi. By “Swadeshi” he meant anything indigenously produced in India, by Indians and for Indians.

Atmanirbhar Bharat is the new rhetoric for him, which he wants everybody to chant. I am not sure if he is really aware of the rich tradition of Swadeshi and its legacy in India’s freedom movement. If he sees Swadeshi from the laconic prism of economic........

© Free Press Journal