New Delhi, Aug 15— The Congress on Friday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s praise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his Independence Day address as “most troubling,” calling it a breach of the spirit of India’s constitutional and secular republic. Party leaders accused the PM of attempting to appease the Sangh ahead of his 75th birthday.
“The most troubling element of the PM’s speech today was his name-checking of the RSS from the ramparts of the Red Fort — a blatant breach of the spirit of a constitutional, secular republic,” AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X. “It is nothing but a desperate attempt to appease the organisation in the run-up to his 75th birthday next month.”
Ramesh referred to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent remarks that leaders should give way to younger leaders on reaching 75, a suggestion many in the Opposition view as aimed at Modi. “Decisively weakened after the events of June 4, 2024, he is now at their complete mercy and reliant on Mohan Bhagwat’s good offices for the extension of his tenure post-September. This politicisation of Independence Day for personal and organisational gain is deeply corrosive to our democratic ethos,” he said.
The Congress leader criticised Modi’s repeated slogans, saying they lacked tangible results. “The ‘Made-in-India’ semiconductor chip promise has been made innumerable times — each time with fanfare, each time without delivery. India’s first Semiconductor Complex was set up in Chandigarh in the early 1980s,” Ramesh noted.
On agriculture, he said, “The rhetoric on protecting farmers has become hollow and unbelievable, given his history of attempting to bulldoze the three black farm laws and in the absence of a legal guarantee for MSP, or farm loan waivers.” He also described the government’s job-creation promises as “empty ritual rather than a credible roadmap.”
Ramesh further criticised the government over electoral processes, highlighting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bihar. “The PM waxed eloquent on unity, inclusion, and democracy at a time when he has presided over and engineered the collapse of our most foundational Constitutional institutions like the Election Commission. He has yet to answer questions raised by the Leader of Opposition over the credibility of the election mechanism,” he said.
He also pointed to what he called the erosion of federalism, alleging that the Centre continues to marginalise elected state governments and interfere with Opposition-led administrations.
“Independence Day should be a moment for vision, candour, and inspiration. Instead, today’s address was a bland mix of self-congratulation and selective storytelling — devoid of any honest acknowledgement of the deep economic distress, the unemployment crisis, and growing economic inequality in our society,” Ramesh said.
