Mukul Kesavan was spot on and with the perfect metaphor! On the sacred day commemorating our independence on August 15, perched atop the ramparts of the glorious Red Fort plumed in saffron regalia, the lead Pracharak who doubles up as the country's Prime Minister, trolled the nation!

If you leave aside the trite Mann ki baat outpourings a la Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats, the distinctive feature of the Independence Day address is that it is the only mandated occasion in the year when the head of the government speaks directly to his people on issues that matter in their lives. It is from this pulpit that he articulates the joys and sorrows, the aspirations, the challenges and the vision for a just and free society.

Jawaharlal Nehru's 'Tryst with Destiny' speech at the inauguration of India's independence in 1947, one of the greatest speeches of all time, took a mere 10 minutes to complete and yet provided the archetypal template on the content, tenor and worldview that should mark an Independence Day address. In unforgettable words, he charted the 'Idea of India,' defined our national identity as founded on liberty, equality, and fraternity, captured the concerns of the time, and exhorted his people to work together for political, economic, and social justice.

Despite the still lingering horrors of Partition, he expressed no rancour, fault-finding or bitterness but urged his countrymen to take on the responsibility of nation-building with dedication and resolve. In his words: "This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell..."

He warned that the greatest threat to the country was sectarian divisiveness: "All of us to whatever religion we may belong are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action."

Significantly, in his first Independence Day speech in 2014, Modi was the quintessential statesman, crooning from the Nehru songbook, urging his people to renounce violence and adopt the path of brotherhood: "We have had to face the poison of casteism and communalism. How long will these evils continue? …these are obstacles in our way forward…shun all the sins committed so far, follow the way of goodwill and brotherhood."

Curiously, he spelt out a fixed time frame – "a moratorium on all such activities for 10 years." We were soon to learn that this was all a sham, as the last decade has witnessed an unimaginable uptick in communal tensions and violence. Lynchings, 'bulldozer justice' and state-sponsored persecution and discrimination against Muslims and Christians are integral to life in India today.

But this year, even the pretence and empty rhetoric of kinship and brotherhood have been dumped. The Nehruvian script of secularism, inclusive liberalism and fraternity was torn to shreds by the PM on August 15, 2025. The "Hindu Hriday Samrat" emerged in the full glare of the Red Fort, unapologetically purveying the brutal Hindu nationalist majoritarian canon.

He extolled the role of his mater – the RSS – for its stellar contribution to the progress of the nation. A shadowy outfit that has drawn inspiration from Nazi Germany, particularly its supremacist worldview, racial and cultural nationalism, the RSS makes no bones about its commitment to a Hindu Rashtra where Muslims and Christians live on sufferance.

As if on cue, his lead toady in the Ministry of Petroleum, distorted reality, published an Independence Day poster with a darkly comical picture of Savarkar towering over Gandhi and other heroes of the freedom struggle. Was this travesty an unintended depiction of the ascendency of evil over righteousness today?

Dripping with malice, he raised the bogey of a deliberate conspiracy to alter the demography of the country through illegal migration. These 'Ghuspetias' – a veiled reference to Muslims and Christians – are "taking away the livelihoods of our youth…are targeting our sisters and daughters." He was trotting out the desi version of the 'Great Replacement' theory that the Trump administration has weaponised to target coloured migrants.

On a day intended to celebrate our freedom and unity, he announced a High-Power Demography Mission with the clear intent of bestowing official imprimatur to the Hindutva polemic of a country polarised between 'us' and 'them,' meaning Muslims and Christians.

There was something deeply troubling about his exclusionary and homogenising concerns. The laudatory reference to Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee in the context of the removal of Article 370 and the realisation of the "One Nation, One Constitution" ideal seemed to suggest that these are important milestones en route to the Hindu Rashtra and the dismantling of our multi-cultural ethos.

If that was not enough, he turned the knife on Muslims' native tongue – Urdu - through omission. While extolling India's linguistic diversity, he crowed about granting classical language status to Marathi, Assamese, Bangla, Pali, and Prakrit, whereas Urdu - over 800 years old, a brilliant fusion of other Indian languages and arguably the most accomplished and mellifluous Indian language - has not been granted that exalted status.

Even as he spoke, his government, in a nationwide sweep, has been rounding up and deporting scores of alleged illegal immigrants, mainly Bengali-speaking Muslims, without due process. While the world has expressed its horror at Trump's ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) goons going about indiscriminately persecuting and evicting migrants, the incubating humanitarian crisis here, albeit on a much smaller scale, is ignored even within the country. What we are witnessing is a de facto enforcement by other means of the stillborn NRC and CAA that were conceived with the sole intent of evicting and delegitimising Muslims.

It is telling that while Modi spreads his divisive message and his government goes full tilt against the minorities, across the border in Bangladesh, which is similarly stricken by the communal plague, Muhammad Yunus reached out to the Hindu community on Janmashtami, stating that Lord Krishna's teachings would "strengthen the bonds of mutual goodwill and brotherhood." The Bangladesh army chief joined the Janmashtami celebrations in Dhaka, reiterating that Bangladesh belongs to everyone and there should be no discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race or community.

Which brings one to the question posed at the start: Was Modi's Independence Day speech his swansong? All of a sudden, the Vishwaguru looks extremely vulnerable. The strained relationship between the RSS and Modi is out in the open. Although the khaki-pants outfit has fattened on the fabulous benefits in terms of power and resources that have accrued in his watch, it has clearly had enough of his arrogance and one-upmanship, though the newfound boldness has also a lot to do with his shrinking popularity. It has got so bad that the two sides are unable to agree on who should be President of the party, because of which JP Nadda has continued as interim President for over two years. Recently, Mohan Bhagwat hinted that Modi should retire at 75.

Modi's effusive praise of the RSS and his incarnation as a belligerent Hindu tribal chief on Independence Day were certainly intended to placate ruffled feathers in the RSS. It seems to be working for the time being as the two-faced Bhagwat has now recanted, protesting that he had never suggested that people should retire at 75 years.

Modi has got a reprieve, but for how long? Nemesis is closing in on him. Advani and MM Joshi, who were unceremoniously dumped for being 'brain-dead' at 75 years, are still around to remind him that the chickens have come home to roost; his unprincipled, directionless foreign policy has left him friendless internationally, so much so that he now is currying favour with his bete noir, Xi.

Irrespective of his posturing, the stalemate with Pakistan in the recent war was tantamount to a defeat; the economy, already limping, has been delivered a body blow by the US tariffs; in a grotesquely unequal society, unemployment has shot through the roof, some reports suggesting that among youth of 20 to 24 years, unemployment is over 44 percent; substantiated proof of widespread rigging in the Lok Sabha and other elections, coupled with the botched SIR exercise, has irretrievably damaged the legitimacy of this government; the never-ending conflagration in Manipur is menacingly ominous.

Which among these will hasten Modi's exit? My hunch is that there is something closer to the bone – his mystifying academic qualifications – that will ultimately take him down!