Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s traditional Independence Day address from Delhi’s Red Fort on Wednesday morning was ordinary, not banal. That indeed has been the hallmark of this Prime Minister — intellectual when it comes to giving speeches that would go out to the people as distinct from policy expressions at gatherings of a few.
That’s when he shines and boldness of ideas is on display, as at G-20 gatherings. But this time round, on the 65th anniversary of our Independence, Dr Singh did have worthwhile things to say. But those thoughts were overshadowed by the mundane. This can’t but have something to do with the staff who put words and thoughts together for
the PM.
The Prime Minister noted, for instance, that national security will be impacted if large-scale investments were not placed at the service of infrastructure development (power, roads, ports, railways, airports), if employment were not created on a significant scale in the country, if skills development did not accelerate, and if health and education levels did not rise dramatically. US President Bill Clinton had once spoken of education being a matter of national security for his country, and that message had gone far. It is unlikely, though, that any television viewer who saw the PM speak from the Red Fort even noticed the paramount place in national life of the objectives Dr Singh sought to outline.
Essentially, Dr Singh tried to make an important political point. As he observed that economic growth had been negatively impacted by an absence of political consensus, he urged the various parties to bring to the subject of growth objectives the same non-partisan spirit they did to national security. This linked to his argument that getting key economic parameters going forcefully was a matter of national security.
Alas, the point was lost in the thicket of information piled on the hapless listener. The PM sounded helpless as he blamed lack of political consensus (in effect, pulling up non-Congress parties) for slowing growth down. Appreciating that this was quite the wrong time to seek a consensus, when the next election is less than two years away, Dr Singh may have been better off had he explained in pithy words the steps he proposed to take to ensure the economy grew at 6.5 per cent, at a time many top economists have forecast a much lower rate for next year. And perhaps it was possible to go for consensus with some parties for pro-poor and pro-employment programmes, but this would have required some preparatory political work. The Congress Party, not just the PM’s office, should shoulder blame for the weak performance at Red Fort. Politics should have been in command at this stage of the game.