New Delhi: In a speech that appeared to be a straight lift from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign, President Ram Nath Kovind addressed a joint sitting of parliament in the Central Hall to welcome newly-elected legislators to the 17th Lok Sabha. Although the president’s speeches are approved by the cabinet secretariat, the speech given by Kovind today marked a departure from past speeches by other presidents with its lack of customisation according to Kovind’s own standing; any BJP leader would have delivered similar speeches while campaigning. One may recall how former presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or Pranab Mukherjee or K.R. Narayanan laced their speeches with their social and political conditioning, even as they spelt out the government’s plan and programmes. Thus, we often found the reference of Sangam age Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in Kalam’s addresses or almost always a crucial democratic lesson from world history in Narayanan’s speeches. Kovind, however, solely reiterated the idea of “New India”, a phrase coined by the prime minister Narendra Modi in an attempt to break Indian history into two distinct halves – the second half being the Modi years since 2014. “Everyone knows the situation before 2014. People of India voted to continue with India’s development journey that started in 2014,” he said, while thanking India for re-electing the Modi government. He emphasised on India’s muscular nationalism as much as the saffron party does in its canvassing. While saying that the world is standing in support of India in its fight against terrorism, the president said, “…national security is paramount for my government, surgical strike and Balakot airstrike on terror camps have made India’s intentions clear.” “Declaration of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is proof that the world is watching,” he added to thunderous applause. Stating that his government plans to make India a five-trillion dollar economy by 2024, Kovind said, “My government is moving ahead to create strong, secure and inclusive India.”Also read: India Grew at 4.5%, Not 7%, Between 2011-12 and 2016-17: Ex CEA Arvind SubramanianHowever, he gave problems like rising unemployment and a recent dip in the GDP growth rate a conspicuous miss. All poor people would have full sanitation facilities, electricity, pucca houses by 2022 – the 75th year of Indian Independence, Kovind said, while emphasising that the government’s focus would be the development of the poor over the next five years. He added that the government would ensure that the Ganga river is cleaned and and that farmers’ income is doubled by 2022. Kovind also said that India will enhance its space capabilities solely on the basis of indigenous resources and that by 2022, “an Indian will hold aloft the tricolour in space”.The new and the oldA significant part of his speech emphasised on how the BJP government at the Centre plans to push its old programmes with renewed energy and investment. Kovind said that programmes like income support for farmers under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Nidhi, health insurance for the poor under Ayushman Bharat, Mudra loans for start-ups, and so on will be given impetus. He also said the government plans to invest an additional Rs 25 crore to increase the productivity of the agricultural sector. He added that in that regard, the government has already hiked the MSP and introduced 100% FDI in food processing industries – a claim that many critics have found to be contentious.Also read: Ayushman Bharat Trivialises India’s Quest for Universal Health CareHowever, he detailed some of the new programmes that the government plans in the days ahead. He announced a pension of Rs 3,000 per month for small and marginal farmers, retailers, traders and the self-employed, after they become senior citizens at the age of 60.He also said that the children of state police personnel will now be eligible to receive scholarships under the National Defence Fund. Earlier, the scheme was meant only for the children of defence forces.The government’s most promising programme will be to increase piped water coverage in the country and to provide the people with clean water. Kovind said that the government has formulated Jal Shakti Ministry to make water management more efficient. Also read: Will a New Water Ministry Solve India’s Impending Water Crisis?Kovind declared that after the success of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the government is now planning to bring banking services directly to people’s homes. For this, the government would strengthen India Post’s postal payment banks. Kovind claimed that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code – which critics had thought was a half-hearted attempt – was among the most impactful economic reforms by the last government. “With coming into force of this Code, banks and other financial institutions have been able to settle directly or indirectly an amount of more than Rs 3,50,000 crore,” the President claimed. Kovind also appealed to the MPs to give a serious thought about the possibility of “One Nation, One Election” idea that the prime minister is determinedly pursuing at the moment. Also, he announced that massive development works are being planned for “aspirational districts” of the country. However, he refrained from elaborating how a particular district would be identified and selected as “aspirational” and how government would tackle the resultant process of exclusion of certain districts.Although he peppered his speech with some new assurances, his speech was mostly based on government’s old promises which remain unfulfilled. Was the President trying to score political points for the government?Beneath the surface, however, Kovind speech cemented the fact that the BJP’s idea of “New India” is primarily anchored to a prominent anti-minority and anti-Nehruvian sentiment.His speech omitted the uncomfortable details and happenings under the previous Modi government that were clearly contradictory to BJP’s “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas” promise. According to the political editor of Asiaville, Vikas Pathak, Kovind’s speech had a decisive “cultural tilt”. What does this mean?In this regard, it was the references that Kovind made that were crucial. Kovind invoked Bengali Renaissance figurehead Rabindranath Tagore and Kerala’s social reformer Shri Narayana Guru – an important ideologue in the pan-India Dalit-Bahujan discourse. Given the saffron party has been trying to make inroads in the two states, the reference to the two ideologues is likely a well-timed move by the government to score a political point among the people in these states.Also, in what appeared to be a dig at the Congress, Kovind said that the controversial Rafale aircraft would land in India soon.Kovind also devoted a significant chunk of his speech to the problem of illegal immigration. “Illegal infiltrators pose a major threat to our internal security. My government has decided to implement the process of ‘National Register of Citizens’ (NRC) on priority basis in areas affected by infiltration,” Kovind said.At the same time, he said that the government would readily accept those who are facing religious persecution in neighbouring countries. The debate over NRC and Citizenship Bill has run into controversy ever since they was mooted. While the BJP-led government favours the NRC to deport illegal immigrants from Assam to Bangladesh, it has also proposed through Citizenship Bill that the religious minority in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan could seek refuge in India.Also read: India’s Looming Crisis of Citizenship: A Paradox of Protection and PowerMany critics have read the proposal as principally anti-Muslim. While last year the NRC became controversial as almost 40 lakh people, mostly Muslims were left out of from being granted legal status, the Citizenship Bill conspicuously excluded Muslims as a religious minority while listing out all people belonging to different religions. If Citizenship Bill is implemented, the persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar – also a neighbouring country – will not be able to seek refuge in India, while Hindus of Bangladesh and Pakistan can do that. In this regard, the undercurrent of Kovind’s speech, therefore, can easily be understood as exclusionary. For example, while speaking about empowering women, Kovind made it a point to highlight the Modi government initiative to ban triple talaq and nikah halala, but he carefully omitted the fact that Modi’s party BJP is strictly opposed to women’s entry in Sabarimala temple in Kerala despite the Supreme Court ruling in its favour. Instead, he brushed aside the topic by tom-tomming the government’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” campaign and claimed that it has “brought down female foeticide and improved the sex ratio in many districts of the country”. In reality, over 56% of the said programme’s funds were spent on advertisements, according to government’s own admission. A fact check would also reveal that the sex ratio has continued to plummet. A NITI Aayog report shows a drop in the sex ratio at birth in 17 out of 21 states.Although the president’s speeches to welcome new MPs are customary, Kovind’s predecessors have while detailing the government’s future programmes have also spoken about important challenges that India faced at the time. Narayanan spoke about India’s obligations to eradicate caste and religious discrimination. Mukherjee often talked about India’s strategic role to ensure peace and stability in the globe.Kovind’s speech contained none of these messages even as he announced the ushering of a “New India”. His speech was strictly customary and remained an exercise by the BJP-led Union government to stay ahead in the political optics.