Prime Minister last evening’s May 12 2025 address to the nation — in the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam Terror attack and India’s resounding anti-terrorist response to Pakistani sponsorship for the same — was a historic one indeed and truly deserved the appreciation of the whole nation.
A few people I know are dissatisfied with Modi’s speech and historic announcements for the simple reason that he did not directly refute Donald Trump’s claim made on international stage that it was he and his threat to declare a trade embargo on both India and Pakistan which effectively and promptly brought both antagonists to their senses and meekly submitted to his Majesty, the POTUS’s command to announce a ceasefire.
However , in our country , we have thousands of “Monday morning quarterbacks” who hate Narendra Modi so viscerally that they cannot and will not resist the temptation to nitpick on him and churlishly, uncharitably find fault with him on the most trivial and inconsequential pretext.
“Why didn’t Modi refute Trump ? The silence means that Trump claim is true, doesn’t it? It means that India is now a subservient state to America , doesn’t it? Why doesn’t Modi come out in the open to admit as much to the nation? Instead why make other brave and chest-thumping sound and fury in his speech last night TV appearance all of which signifies nothing if the Trump boast is true?”
Such are the churlish words with which some people in India stick a dagger into the Prime Minister’s 56 in. chest from behind his back to deliver the Shakespearean “most unkindest cut of all”.
Now, I for one do not agree at all with such people with narrow petty strategic perspectives who choose to only nitpick and remain blind to other truly momentous announcements made in the PM’s speech relating to ground-breaking new doctrines of India’s foreign policy and future stances vis-a-vis not only Pakistan but whole of South Asia and West Asia.
PM Modi’s speech has to be finely parsed and read between the lines to be be able to appreciate the big picture nature of his pronouncements. If one cannot do that , one will only start nitpicking … in other words, “bleed Modi to death through a 1000 cuts”…
Why must an Indian PM who is addressing his nation to show them a new strategic direction he is charting have to respond to what the POTUS said or did not say in a moment of wonted, wanton bravado somewhere in America? Surely, our Indian PM Modi has more class than the crass chap Trump in the White House.
Instead of directly refuting Trump boasts and veiled threats to India , Modi said the world (duniya) is being given notice through his baryon-wide address… So, hear Ye One and All ! :
- India will not hold talks with Pakistan except terrorism and PoK .
- India will no longer kowtow to any nuclear threat from Pakistan (and that means, tacitly, China too ).
- Henceforth, both non-state and state-actors in Pakistan’s complicit in terror activities will now be targets for India’s military strikes … make no bones about it .
The above is a clear and courageous message to not only to Pakistan but also to Trump and to America and China .
Modi has spoken well indeed, like how a great nation’s head ought to speak … with authority , clarity and gravitas … all of which Donald Trump lacks .
Our PM Modi did well not to stoop to the low level of trumpery that the cheap grandstanding that Donald the POTUS we see has been ever since assuming office engaging in almost everything he does from the White House … be it the Ukraine war , Gaza genocide or the botched up tariff war .
Come on, people, show some discernment! Please don’t expect the Prime Minister of India to deign to sparring with fools .
Some other people … right on the other extreme end of the spectrum of Modi-haters and Modi-bhakths … are a little disappointed with his speech for yet another kind of trifle :
“I watched his address in full. One aspect he should have mentioned but didn’t is, it is not just a terrorist attack at Pahalgam or terrorist camps in Pak. He should have categorically nailed jihadi terrorism…”
This in fact is really another Shakespearean way of saying “I come not to dishonour Caesar but to bury him!”.
In his speech the PM specifically mentioning the category of “jihaadi terrorism” would’ve needlessly given rise at once to frenzied discourse in the islamic world as a veiled accusation against Islam itself . The international media would then have played it up to such a level of amplification that Modi’s main focus on terrorism per se in all its forms would’ve have got utterly lost in distraction. Just think of this : India supports the Palestine 2 state solution. Is the PLA not working with Hamas which has a jihadi orientation?
So , the matter does become very complicated if Modi had used the word jihadi to qualify terrorism .
My perspective therefore is slightly different:
Terrorism in the modern context also includes tariff terrorism and deadly media misinformation terrorism …
So, while Modi’s strong message to Pakistan was about conventional terrorism which it incites and sponsors, the message he sent was also loaded with a clear signal to America and the West about how their media-orchestrated propaganda terrorism is frequently inflicted upon India .
That is why the PM made that very significant statement at the end of his speech : the country’s strength lies in our unity, he said. If we are united as a people , no form of terrorism can hurt or damage us …. That was the sense and context in which I thought his statement was made .
There are so many intellectuals , academicians , historians , journalists and university students in India amongst us today who get seduced by media-propaganda terrorism that gets fomented from abroad …
They are not killed but they suffer an even worse form of victimhood. They get seduced intellectually and morally by non-conventional media-generated/aided terrorism .
But then after being thus intellectually seduced, they gradually get transformed psychologically into fourth and fifth estate voices that begin working for and on behalf of regular conventional terrorism … as either undercover defenders or skilful, powerful apologists or influencers for it .
Jai Hind ! 🙏
Sudarshan Madabushi