Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address from the Red Fort has generated a huge buzz in the country. A snap poll conducted by a New Delhi-based newspaper revealed that Modi’s popularity ratings had gone up further following the early morning address at the Red Fort. Even those who are viscerally hostile to him felt obliged to commend it for one or other feature of his speech. Someone said the delivery was great, Modi being a great communicator, an excellent orator, second only to the first BJP Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. Someone praised him for addressing the people in their own, simple language about very mundane, everyday issues, which, nonetheless are important in themselves. Sanitation and personal hygiene, for example. Others approvingly noted the large number of key issues he touched upon in his 65-minute address. Some were impressed by the fact that he dispensed with the bullet-proof glass box standing behind which all recent prime ministers had addressed the nation on the I-Day. That he mixed freely with the schoolchildren and guests also did not go unnoticed. All in all, a first-rate performance by someone who is not only new to national politics, but is also new to central government.
It is another matter that the principal opposition party seemed badly divided in its response to the Modi address. A party spokesperson reluctantly allowed that it was a commendable performance while others could not help but find fault for no particular reason. Professional nitpickers like Sitaram Yechury of the increasingly irrelevant CPI(M) criticised Modi for not implementing any of the things he had promised on the campaign trail. How will he translate all that he promised in his speech into action, they petulantly asked. This, when he has been in the saddle in New Delhi for less than three months. But, in our view, the most important feature of the speech was that it revealed that after a gap of several years the country has at last got a true leader of the masses. He connected with the people, unlike any of his predecessors in recent years. Manmohan Singh did not even connect with his own ministers. Yes, Vajpayee was popular, but did not have a majority of his own. He ruled with the help of a coalition of like-minded parties.
Not after the parliamentary election in 1984 held within days of the traumatic post-Sikh riots had anyone won a full majority of his own. Modi’s popularity is thus intact, a fact duly endorsed by the response to his 15th August speech. Indeed, when a prime minister is a leader in his own right and enjoys mass support, running of government becomes easier. Modi has the luxury of implementing even the toughest of decisions, since he enjoys the peoples’ trust. It is, therefore, important for him to carry out urgent changes in the labour and land acquisition laws, to moderate the huge entitlement/rights packages to ensure that only the genuinely needy get free food, fuel and fertilisers etc. He may also consider linking public service appointment, especially at the middle and higher levels, to actual performance. That way he can break the stranglehold of seniority and mediocrity in the civil services.
Given that lateral entry into government services even for the most meritorious is a strict no-no, ensuring that only those who are really deserving get the top jobs in civil services can be achieved if the stultifying seniority principle is discarded. The importance of an efficient and responsive civil service cannot be exaggerated. Without its active cooperation, the political executive can achieve precious little. Therefore, toning up the permanent executive must be a priority. As Modi said in his Red Fort address, he had already moved in that direction but a lot more needs to be done. Babus reporting in office on time symbolises, after all, a sense of duty, a sense of responsibility. If only every Indian, including, of course, politicians, began to take their civic duties seriously the face of the country will change sooner than you realise. Modi is committed to goad you in that direction. As he asked, are you committed to help your nation to help yourselves? You should be.
