The nation heard two important speeches on the occasion of India’s 60th Independence Day. President A P J Abdul Kalam’s, followed by Manmohan Singh from the ramparts of Red Fort. Comparisons are odious. Here I limit my comments only to the Rashtrapati’s speech. In our parliamentary system of democracy, the President has no executive powers. Nevertheless, he derives his authority from being the custodian of the Constitution. Therefore, when he speaks, especially on important occasions like the Independence Day and Republic Day, the nation expects to find in it advice to the Government and the political class on the one hand and, on the other, a sage message to society at large. Both, of a very high order, can be found in Dr Kalam’s address.

I have not read a more thought-provoking speech in a long time. It was woven around a theme—India as a Developed Nation by 2020—which he had articulated even before he became the President in July 2002. That theme has now found its most holistic and inspirational articulation yet in what was perhaps Dr Kalam’s last I-Day-eve address to the nation. The beauty of this speech lies in accomplishing the challenging task of constructing a Big Idea with many small but solid and reliable building blocks.

What are these building blocks? Dr Kalam gives a wide variety of success stories and innovations that persuade us to conclude that, in spite of many things that dishearten us in India, there are many more that instill hope and confidence. The role models represent every field of nation-building: agriculture, rural development, water conservation, education, healthcare, information technology. Each of these examples is drawn from his own personal experiences during his travels across the country. By highlighting these examples, the President urges the governments (Central and state) and also various sections of the society to work towards their large-scale replication.

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