PM Modi May Speak Extempore In First Independence Day Speech

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 14, 2014:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to speak extempore when he makes his first Independence Day speech from Red Fort on Friday. If he does, he will probably be the first prime minister to do so without a script.

PM Modi’s speech, likely to be 45 minutes to one hour long, is set to break new ground in more ways than one.

For the first time, more than 10,000 people will get free seats at the Independence Day function, which begins at around 7.30 am with the hoisting of the national flag.

The Prime Minister had asked four ministers to help him with what he plans to say. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananth Kumar and Power Minister Piyush Goyal were asked to coordinate with different ministries and prepare a blue-print.

Mr Modi, 63, is used to making long speeches without prepared text and is seen by many as a speaker who can engage his audience.

Sources close to him say a prepared speech or a teleprompter would take away from his natural ease at connecting with people.

Mr Modi is likely to outline his government’s priorities in broad strokes but avoid specifics.

His idol is former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, known to be one of the country’s best orators. BJP leaders believe Mr Vajpayee’s Independence Day speeches missed his sparkling wit as he read from a text.

Mr Modi, who led his party to a stunning victory in the national election, reportedly wants his first Independence Day speech to set a benchmark.

On August 14 last year, Independence Day eve, Mr Modi had challenged that his August 15 speech in Gujarat, as chief minister, would draw as much attention as that of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s from the Red Fort.

On Independence Day, he had begun his speech from a college in Bhuj about half an hour after Dr Singh spoke and had criticised the latter’s address as uninspiring and disappointing. Many BJP leaders had then wagered that Mr Modi’s next Independence Day speech would be at the Red Fort.


Courtesy:NDTV