Parivarvaad And Missed Opportunities: A Critical Look At Rajiv Gandhi’s Independence Day Speeches

New Delhi: Independence Day Speeches of former Prime Ministers including Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, if analysed closely, bring out startling similarities. A critical look at speeches delivered by these former prime ministers reflect that the content in them over the years remained mostly similar, repetitive, lacking substance that would have inspired people. They never talked about launching mass movements, presented their respective governments report cards or taking responsibility of their actions but remained focussed in only praising Gandhis for whatever India ever achieved.       

Key takeaways from Rajiv Gandhi's I-Day speeches 

Repetitive

Most of the time, Independence Day speeches delivered by Rajiv Gandhi were baed on repetitive themes without any new insight or substance.

No Responsibility

A government which is critical of its own actions and analyse their actions whether they are going in the right direction reflects how serious they are towards their job. However, Instead of taking responsibility or ownership for their actions, the Gandhis frequently deflected blames elsewhere.

No inspiration

A leader of a country should always inspire and pump up the nation with new desired and objectives. They should present a vision or roadmap of how they plan the next few years and what's the future is going to be like. Especially when a country is just coming out of centuries of colonial rule needed inspiration. Yet, rather than uplifting and inspiring the populace, their speeches came across as patronising, contrasting Indians unfavourably with people from more developed nations.

Preaching Tone

One would also feel that the way the Gandhis used to speak and deliver speeches, it always felt like they are preaching to Indians in a sermonising tone.

No Mass Movements Launched 

There was no mass movement that any of these leaders ever launched like for example Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked about ‘Swacch Bharat’, Panch Pran pledge, getting rid of the colonial mindset, ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ Campaign, ‘Make In India’, ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padao’ to name a few. Thus was such a glaring miss especially after claiming the legacy of the freedom mass movement.

No Report card 

Governments led by the Gandhis though have made a lot of promises in speeches but never talked about how many of them were being achieved or fulfilled.

Let's take a brief look at how former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi avoided accountability in his government's actions, passed on blames to other factors, instead of a deep introspect and credited Gandhis for anything and everything India ever achieved.     

Gandhis avoided accountability 

1989 | Capitalists’ don’t let us get things done

Speaking in one of his I-Day speeches, Rajiv Gandhi said that they strove hard but certain capitalist forces did not let them succeed. He further mentioned his hands were tied and development at that time could not start from the village level.

1989 | Wealthy the favourite punching bag | Crediting Gandhis

Rajiv Gandhi in yet another speech as Prime Minister praised her mother Indira Gandhi saying, "She started with bank nationalisation so that the people of India could have access to capital. Today we are not facing those problems. We must remember that 20 years ago when the banks were nationalised, there was almost no branch of any bank in rural India and the poor people were neither getting any help nor did they derive any benefit from the capital in the banks. Even in Independent India, wealth was only getting circulated among the affluent people. Indiraji changed the scene by nationalising the banks. She invested the funds to alleviate poverty and also for the welfare and upliftment of the poor. For the first time, the 20-Point Programme of Indiraji succeeded in reducing poverty in India.”

Lack for inspiration 

1989 | Did you know about my family tree? | Once again, praising Gandhis

Rajiv Gandhi once said “Indiraji devoted her entire life to fighting and eliminating the capitalist forces.”

For Rajiv Gandhi, India was largely defined by the Nehru-Gandhi family, with other Prime Ministers effectively erased from memory. In contrast, Narendra Modi has shown generosity and grace in acknowledging the contributions of his predecessors and their achievements.

Condescending and didactic tone

1988, Country with a ‘Begging Bowl’ if not for my family! | Praising family tree once again 

In 1988, Rajiv Gandhi in his I-Day speech told citizens that if his family had not ruled the country, India would have to go with a begging bowl.

“For the first time, we did not go to others with a begging-bowl. That we were able to achieve this is a matter of great pride. We were able to do it because of the work done by Panditji and Indiraji during the last 40 years—the result of which we see today,” he said.

Missing call to action and vision setting

1987, Not easy to protect democracy our way when Press is around

In 1987, Rajiv Gandhi in a way blamed the press that was questioning government's actions saying it was not easy to protect democracy the way they wanted when the press was around. 

“The meaning of free India is that it has an independent judiciary and rule of law. Free India means that it has a free and unfettered Press. But it is not so easy to protect democracy, especially when we find that there are people who endanger our freedom through irresponsibility and indiscipline, who show disrespect to the Constitution and its institutions through their behaviour.”

How PM Modi Independence Day speeches injected enthusiasm, optimism, confidence    

Narendra Modi, 2014 | Praising contribution of former leaders irrespective of party who've led India 

Delivering his first speech as Prime Minister in 2014, PM Modi said, “Today, if we have reached here after independence, it is because of the contribution of all the Prime Ministers, all the governments and even the governments of all the States.”

Narendra Modi, 2016 | Acknowledging contribution of tribals

In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “We hear the name of Birsa Munda but perhaps there would be no tribal dominated district where the tribals would not have fought and given sacrifice since 1857 to the time we got freedom.”