Promise of a new India

PM's message was for an increasingly prosperous nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort hit all the right notes and was clearly, also, a ramp-up to his general election campaign. The speech was his fifth as prime minister and thus his last before going back to the people and facing re-election. This was highlighted by his choice of base year — 2013, which was just before he took office. He has, over the four previous speeches, used this occasion to launch or defend major policy initiatives. Swachh Bharat, Make in India, and so on were introduced on previous such speeches;