Nistula Hebbar, ET Bureau | 16 Aug, 2014, 06.39AM IST
NEW DELHI: In all his public appearances as PM, Narendra Modi has emphasised the fact that he is a departure from the past — that he has his own style. His first Independence Day speech was a good example.
The brightly coloured and printed Jodhpuri saafa (turban), worn in stylistic contrast to his cream coloured kurta pyjama, was the first of his many departures from a set tradition of I-Day rituals. The PM visited only Rajghat, and not the other samadhis other PMs have visited before heading to the Red Fort.
A sharp change in style was also visible in his brisk walk to the centre of the event. Most veteran observers of I-Day speeches said not since Rajiv Gandhi has India seen a PM whose walk signalled such purposefulness.
The PM inspected a guard of honour from the armed forces — another departure from tradition, and this was happening as a patriotic song from Mysore was playing in the background. Jodhpuri turban, song from Mysore, the purposeful stride...the signalling that something different was happening was clear. And the difference was soon clear to the large audience — much bigger than past I-Day audiences thanks to the inclusion of at least 140 heads of diplomatic missions and several thousand members of the general public. There was no teleprompter, the PM spoke extempore, looked animated and engaged.
Senior members of the government who have been party colleagues of the PM for decades say that his choreography of public events is deliberate.
"The Congress template is the one which has been followed by every political party which came to power, every PM including AB Vajpayee. What Nehru did, or what Indira did was the set norm. Modi wants to signal a departure," said a minister.
Sanjaya Baru, who had been media advisor to former PM Manmohan Singh, said: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is perhaps the only PM after Indira Gandhi to have not depended on a text to speak to the nation. In that way it was an inspirational address, public yet intimate and historic in the sense that it also brought closure to a Nehruvian institution like the Planning Commission," he said.
The PM ended his speech with Vande Mataram, a sharp departure from the traditional Jai Hind. Vande Mataram as a patriotic slogan has its critics and has created political controversies. The PM ignoring those critiques was a style statement all by itself.
