PM Narendra Modi used 15% fewer words than former PM Manmohan Singh in US Congress speech

NEW DELHI: Perception on the use of their vocal chords apart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used 15% fewer words than his predecessor Manmohan Singh in his speech to the joint sitting of the US Congress. And the one striking strand in their speeches was that neither deemed it appropriate to mention his predecessor despite obvious references to his contribution to Indo-US relations.

Both mentioned the addresses by past PMs of their own parties while choosing different icons (Nehru and Ambedkar) to underline the influence of US Constitution and values in the framing of the Indian Constitution.

Modi did not mention Manmohan Singh in his Wednesday’s address despite two references about Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Likewise, Manmohan Singh in his address to the joint sitting of the American Congress, on July 19, 2005, did not mention Atal Bihar Vajpayee despite quoting him on India and America being “natural allies.”

“In the fall of 2008, when the Congress passed the India-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, it changed the very colours of leaves of our relationship,” Modi said before adding, “civil nuclear cooperation, as I told President Obama yesterday, is a reality.”

Singh, however, did not find mention despite the fact that it was he who risked his government in Parliament against the combined wrath of Modi’s BJP and the Left parties in July 2008, before the US Congress passed the India-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in September 2008.

But a scrutiny of Singh’s 2005 speech leaves little reason for him to complain against Modi’s omission of his name on Wednesday. Singh referred to Rajiv Gandhi’s speech from “this very podium two decades ago (1985)” but did not mention Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s speech made in 2000, which set the pace for the cordial relations between India and America.

“As two great democracies, we are natural partners in many ways,” Singh said. Modi, in turn, credited Vajpayee for this coinage referring to him twice in his speech: “Our independence was ignited by the same idealism that fuelled your struggle for freedom.

No wonder then that former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee called India and the US natural allies,” Modi said. “More than fifteen years ago, Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stood here and gave a call to step out of the shadow of hesitation of the past.”

Modi and Singh chose different icons to underline the influence of American Constitution on the Indian Constitution. While Singh had used Jawaharlal Nehru to buttress his point, Modi cited Ambedkar to drive home the same point.

As against 3,264 words of Singh’s speech in 2005, Modi’s speech comprised 2,754 words. Singh mentioned incumbent president George Bush many more times than Modi mentioned Obama. But, Modi mentioned 8 icons from the past as against 4 mentioned by Singh.