The speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day 2025 was projected as the average one. He talked of aggressive nationalism, pride in history and technological fire. However, between the patriotism words is a rather disturbing trend. What he proposed was not the guide on democratic India. It was a declaration of militarized nationalism, ideological entrenchment and state domination.

“It was not a homage to freedom but a lumping together of ideology, militarism, and selective history.”

It was not an innocent accolade that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the largest NGO in the world. That was a political nod to an organization that lives on polarity. The RSS has a notorious history of promulgating intolerance and communal divide. The fact that it is referred to as an NGO does not make it forget its past. It turns it mainstream. UN human rights monitors, USCIRF, Human Rights Watch and the international media have reported during the last two years that the RSS and its affiliates have been at the centre of hate, Islamophobia and conspiracy theories. This was intimated by Modi praises. It informed his constituency that hate is no longer marginal but orthodox.

A report released in 2023-24 by the India Hate Lab creates the statistic picture. In 2023, 32 percent of hate speech incidences were planned by RSS-related groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. About 50 percent came to be associated with Sangh Parivar. Their fellow BJP politicians often were among the fomenters. Hate was not unintended. It was organized. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh which are the most affected states are the strongholds of BJP. Repeat offenders were mentioned as legislators and religious leaders. Nation-building does not mean unity that is founded on fear.

Already, Modi has ingrained a culture of harassing critics, prosecuting dissenters, and occasional outbreaks of violence, to punish minorities. The UN, Human Rights Watch and USCIRF have recorded these patterns. The bombastic rhetoric of his Independence Day speech neither tried to deny this record. Rather, it betted on it.

Just as bad was the implicit eruption by him of the praise of Operation Sindoor. Normalizing escalation between two nuclear armed states by characterizing cross-border strikes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir as the new normal, Modi made the norm of such attacks. Strike is not strategy. They are allures to misjudgement. A regular militarized bravado compromises space of mediation and diplomacy. It elevates the standing risk of unintentional conflict. In such activities, online platforms were suppressed, criticism was suppressed, and censorship was strengthened. Even the theatre of war involved the cyberspace proving once again that technology is a tool of control under Modi.

“Strike is not strategy. They are allures to misjudgement.”

Militarism had spilt into other areas. Modi was proud that India could not allow Pakistan nuclear blackmail. This was supposed to be a hard statement. It did not do so, however, but instead contributed to the same security dilemma that makes South Asia unstable. Nuclear brinkmanship is nothing near to deterrence. It is destabilization. The world was told clearly that India under Modi will be bold not less.

The Prime Minister even poked at suspending or weaponizing the Indus Water Treaty. That agreement forms the source of stability and humanitarian in South Asia. Actions that undermine it would not only be a crime under international law as guided by the UN Watercourses Convention. It would also present a humanitarian situation to millions of down streamers. The use of weapons in the form of water is no strength. It is a failure, morale, diplomacy and strategical.

There was also a novel promotion of indigenous social media connected with his speech. Draped in the guise of digital sovereignty, the scheme is more readily detected as digital surveillance. The unprotected free expression platforms will turn into extensions of the state. They will amalgamate censorship and silencing the critics. Already there are warnings that India is on this trend with Freedom House and UN digital rights reports being issued to that effect. It is borne out by the appeal by Modi.

The developmental rhetoric, be it regarding youth empowerment, GST reform or new missions such as Sudarshan Chakra, comes to nothing against the background of economic facts. The level of unemployment has been very severe. There is still rural distress. The gap is increasing. Publicizing new missions, without correcting structural failures is not reform. It is distraction.

“The use of weapons in the form of water is no strength. It is a failure, morale, diplomacy and strategical.”

Off world, the credibility of India is fading. The decreasing trend is already being felt in human rights forums, rule-of-law indicators, democratic relationships, and democratic partnerships. Governance and rights conditioned democracies regard the Modi India increasingly with suspicion. Acts of militarized posturing and internal repression cannot bring the status of India in the international society. They reduce it.

Altogether, Independence Day address by Modi was not a homage to freedom. It was a lumping together of ideology, militarism and selective history. Modi called the RSS an NGO thereby mainstreaming hate. He beckoned nuclear miscalculation by making the acts of striking the new normal. He pursued the diplomatic and humanitarian failure by being a threat to the Indus Water Treaty. By the demand of state controlled digital platforms, he opened the pathway to surveillance and censorship. And by making the point that one might harness fear to construct unity, he disclosed the nature of his rule which was narrative-building not nation-building.

“Unity founded on fear is not nation-building but narrative-building.”

What Modi said indicates the undermining of democracy in India. At some point Independence Day was a day to be happy that we used pluralism and resilience. In 2025, it was turned into an arena of militarism, expulsion, and government domination. Democracy works on rhetoric only. It must rely on rights, justice, and equality.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.