Opinion Tavleen Singh writes: It’s time for PM Modi to get rid of his speechwriters

What I expected from Modi was that the theme of his speech to American lawmakers would be to build on what he said last time he was in this same forum about overcoming the ‘hesitations of history’. I thought he would declare that these hesitations had now been dumped in history’s dustbin and that a new chapter was beginning. In fairness he did mention this in passing but it surprised me to see that he dwelled at length on the number of houses, roads and drinking water pipes that had been built since he became prime minister. Did his speechwriter forget that these are things that Americans have taken for granted for many decades?

When the Prime Minister returned home, he seemed to do no more than take a quick nap and a shower before appearing in Bhopal to make yet another long speech.

The theme was pretty much the same. He dwelled at length on how much India has changed since 2014 because of the work his government had done. To this list of personal achievements, he added for domestic audiences that if they chose the opposition parties over the Bharatiya Janata Party in next year’s general election they would be benefiting only the progeny of political families. Not India. And, to add some spice he brought up the need for a Universal Civil Code that most Indian voters understand as a reference to Muslim men being allowed to have four wives. Politically perceptive voters will see it as just another dog whistle.

Personally, I barely digested the Bhopal speech when the Prime Minister popped back onto my TV screen. This time it was to give the valedictory address at Delhi University’s centennial celebrations. Once more the emphasis was on how much India had changed since 2014 and how after ‘thousands of years of slavery’ our great country was awakening to renewal and modernity. By the time I finished analysing these three speeches I concluded that it was time for Modi to get rid of his speechwriters and hire a whole new crew. Too many of his speeches these days sound like speeches we have heard before.

If Modi’s lustre remains undimmed in the eyes of the average Indian voter, it is because he is up against opposition parties who are infinitely more boring. To watch them gather in Patna for the first of their meetings to discuss how they will defeat Modi by fighting as a single force was to remember how many times this has happened before. I am not going to analyse why their idea of a ‘united opposition’ is fundamentally flawed. Many other political pundits have asked questions like how this will work on the ground since there are so very many states in which this conclave of political heirs will be forced to fight against each other.

What makes this gaggle of family parties look truly pathetic is that they seem in the past decade of being in the opposition to have come up with neither a new economic idea nor a new political strategy. It is India’s misfortune that the coming general election is likely to seem very much like the last one. Of course, there will be that new temple in Ayodhya that will dazzle voters of Hindutva bent and there will be promises of free food grain, free electricity, free water, and freebies of other kinds. The fact that all our political parties make these reckless promises at election time is proof that Modi’s new India is not that different to that old India that he speaks of with contempt. When he finds a moment for silence and introspection, he would do well to ask himself why this is.

Meanwhile, all polls indicate that Modi will have no problem becoming prime minister again next year. All polls indicate that his popularity has not diminished even slightly and that in general Indian voters see in him leadership qualities that they do not find in the caboodle of family parties. This will come as great news for him personally, but will it be good for India? Whenever I ask myself this question the ageing faces of the opposition leaders and their ageing progeny float before my eyes, and I know the answer.

And I find myself admitting that when given the choice between them and Modi, I find that I really have no choice at all. The Lok Sabha election of 2024 is already beginning to look like the Lok Sabha election of 2019. It is as if history itself has been trapped in a weird time warp.