Narendra Modi’s Speech at the UN General Assembly

By Deepak Parvatiyar

September 28, 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched upon almost all major issues confronting the world in his maiden about 35-minute speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday. On hindsight, it did appear to be multi-focussed, but in totality succeeded in conveying one strong message – the arrival of an assertive India at the centre-stage of world politics! Consider these points that he made in the course of his speech:

• “I am … mindful of the expectations of the world from 1.25 billion people.
• “India is part of the developing world, but we are prepared to share our modest resources with those countries that need this assistance as much as we do.
• “India is a country that constitutes one-sixth of humanity; a nation experiencing economic and social transformation on a scale rarely seen in history.
• “Every nation’s world view is shaped by its civilization and philosophical tradition. India’s ancient wisdom sees the world as one family. It is this timeless current of thought that gives India an unwavering belief in multilateralism.

These words amply resonated Modi’s “India first” mantra at an international summit. Yet, the success of Modi consisted in his ability to cater to the different key constituencies including a self determined positioning of India as a global thought leader – a proposition that goes well with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak  Sangh’s scheme of things. He described the world as “Vasudev Kutumbakam” – a divine family, while emphasising the importance of peaceful coexistence. He talked about the importance of Yoga, which according to him “is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature”. Before we dwell further on his speech, it would be apt to identify Modi’s core constituencies that he sought to address in his speech. We have already discussed his allusions to the RSS doctrines.. Another key constituency that he addressed was the SAARC countries . He used the UN platform to heap praises on Nepal and Bhutan and made it amply clear that “our future is linked very closely to our neighbours” as a nation’s destiny “is linked to its neighbourhood”. Much is being discussed about Modi’s fitting reply to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s call for a plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir during the latter’s address to the UNGA a day earlier. Nothing could have been a more direct rebuttal of Sharief’s remarks than his no-nonsense statement : “Raising issues in this forum is not the way to make progress towards resolving issues between our two countries. Instead, today, we should be thinking about the victims of floods in Jammu and Kashmir. In India, we have organised massive flood relief operations and have also offered assistance for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.” In the same breadth, he blasted Pakistan in no uncertain ways, stating Pakistan must shun any form of terrorism – “good terrorism or bad terrorism” – if it wanted to engage India in any serious bilateral dialogue and made a masterstroke when he called upon the UN to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism — a proposed treaty which “intends to criminalize all forms of international terrorism and deny terrorists, their financiers and supporters access to funds, arms, and safe havens”. It is significant that Modi, avoided using the term “Islamic terrorism’ and even avoided naming any of the terror outfits in his speech and instead laid emphasised on working for “genuine peace…(and) international partnership”. He also called for a more democratic and participative UN Security Council – reiterating India’s long standing view in this regard. He even warned that if the UN was not reformed, it might face the risk of irrelevance – “Institutions that reflect the imperatives of 20th century won’t be effective in the 21st. It would face the risk of irrelevance; and we will face the risk of continuing turbulence with no one capable of addressing it.” Obviously, Modi’s speech was didactic at times yet, it was devoid of pretensions. At times he did though try to project himself as a world statesman – “When we think of the scale of want in the world – 2.5 billion people without access to basic sanitation; 1.3 billion people without access to electricity; or 1.1 billion people without access to drinking water, we need a more comprehensive and concerted direct international action.” Indeed, Modi did make a mark at the world stage! As if a rather unusual good attendance in the morning session of the UNGA to listen to Modi was not enough, the way Modi articulated his vision on a global platform in Hindi – he is only the second Indian leader to do so after Atal Behari Vajpayee – speaks volumes of the growing self-esteem of the new Indian Prime Minister ( Hindi is not among the six official languages of the UN). That he often shifted from the structured speech to extemporaneousness to explain his points too did not go unnoticed either. An eminent Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra was quoted in media as saying that “the young and vibrant Indian voice of 1.2 billion Indians… spoke today through Modi”. Modi had dressed up impeccably for the big occasion. In a dark bandh-gala suit, he exuded confidence and his body language was positive. More important though, was his pointer to the “surge of democracy” the world over – an emphatic observation from the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy!