It was the 13th time this morning that Narendra Modi occupied the Red Fort pulpit. But it was perhaps the first time that he had before him a task he is unaccustomed to – having to reassure his core constituency that he had not lost his mojo. It turned out to be a belaboured exercise and an unimpressive performance.This is because this Independence Day is being observed against the background of two consequential events – first, the Gen Z congregation at Jantar Mantar and the brutal police crackdown on the young protesters, and, second, the chanda chori at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. While the first event heralded an entire generation’s alienation from the Modi project, the second exposed the ethical deficit in the religion-centric nationalistic agenda.Both events added up to a significant depletion of the Modi regime’s ardour, and nothing revealed this loss of morale better than the manner in which the prime minister and the home minister sneaked into Lok Sabha for a few minutes’ rendition of ‘Vande Mataram’ on the last day of the Monsoon Session. Unwittingly, the sense of siege got confirmed.It was against this background that Narendra Modi’s cheerleaders as well as his detractors wanted to see if the lion still roars and hunts, even if it is old and tired. What they saw was a king of the jungle, but listless and uninspired. Modi’s speech was obviously penned in English by some bureaucratic-technocratic committee and then poorly translated into Hindi. The short-order demagogue seemed to be going through the motions without vigour or zest.Predictably, there was the familiar indulgence in self-congratulations. Facts and figures were rattled off to contrast the “fast” pace of achievements of the last 12 years with the “slow” progress of the previous decades. Viksit Bharat and Atmanirbhar Bharat came across as overused clichés. The comparison with the pre-2014 governments has become a jaded ritual. And it was so again this morning. It was as if the priest himself had developed doubts about the liturgy; the proselytiser was losing faith.The prime minister appeared keen to reach out to the middle-aged middle classes, reminding them that he has provided stability in the country and that he was not unaware of their concerns about the future of their children. He also asked them to give him credit for having steered the ship of the state during various crises like the Covid-19 outbreak, the Ukraine war and the West Asia conflict. The glass was more half full than half empty.He came across as a man who was willing to give offence but reluctant to wound. There was no mention of Pakistan, nor any invocations of terrorism; no reference to China was made and the United States was not named either. No talk of muscular nationalism. And there was no mention of corruption, not even claims about having put the corrupt in their place. And, surprise of all surprises, Nehru was mentioned, but Savarkar remained unmentioned.Also read: The Savarkar Provocation and the Death of Studentship in IndiaThe only time Narendra Modi brought cheer to his corner was when he claimed to have vanquished the Naxals (an indirect ode to his colleague, Amit Shah) but warned against the Naxal mindset that retains charm for certain sections. But there was no passion behind this assertion.More pointedly, there was no allusion to the Hindu-Muslim binary – an uncertainty that the regime’s stormtroopers continue to aggravate. Perhaps the prime minister and his advisers and strategists have realised that the Hindutva goons and their ugly antics are alienating large segments of society.This Independence Day is being observed in the context of the defiance and resistance at Jantar Mantar and beyond. Those who gathered and fasted and raised slogans have helped the country realise that the old gruel that prime minister Modi has been serving is unappetising and not good for the nation’s health either. The country needed a new menu of different – healthy and nutritious – dishes, if not a new cook. The Jantar Mantar crowd can hardly be expected to find the promise of free online coaching a very satisfactory substitute for employment.The prime minister half-heartedly made an attempt to acknowledge Gen Z’s disenchantment and its rejection of Hindutva-laced slogans and solutions. The country has come out of its trance with the Hindutva chants. Chanda chori at the Ram temple has robbed Hindutva of its religious undergirding and the prime minister did not utter a single sentence to restore his followers’ aastha (faith) in this regard.Admittedly, it is rather late in the day for the prime minister and his advisers to realise that the Viksit Bharat mantra stands drained of its totemic power. It has become just another slogan, because it has been used to camouflage an extreme concentration of wealth among a handful of crony capitalists and a neta-builder nexus.The prime minister is entitled to claim a certain kind of ‘competence’ in his quest for this Viksit Bharat, but it has neither produced satisfaction to the vast swathes of our population nor has it generated ethical and spiritual capital that would allow the deprived masses to take deprivation in their stride.The Narendra Modi who addressed the nation from the Red Fort this morning had his task cut out for him. He could not acknowledge that his ‘model’ has run out of steam, but at the same time, he had to assure his core constituency that “all is well”. In that limited task, he did succeed. Yet he failed to carry conviction beyond that narrow band of bhakts. What was evident was that the fizz has gone out. The long innings is coming to an end.Harish Khare was editor-in-chief of The Tribune.