Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech exhorted India’s can-do spirit while presenting the opportunities awaiting the nation. It came, however, at a moment when the nation is assailed by crises on multiple fronts. With nearly a thousand deaths every day, the coronavirus has laid bare public health weaknesses. The economy, never having quite recovered from the demonetisation disaster, continues to reel from lockdowns, curbs on public movement and fears of contracting the illness. Chinese aggression in Ladakh has also come at an inopportune moment.

Modi’s forthright references to and recognition of India’s grave security challenge, as he committed to defending India’s territorial sovereignty from LoC to LAC, are welcome. However, the economy is the fulcrum around which India can script robust responses to its multiple crises. China is a reminder that long-standing economic growth manifests as military strength. Sustaining the troop mobilisation along both LoC-LAC and defence modernisation require a significant budget expansion. Likewise, doubling public spending in healthcare is key to managing pandemics like Covid. Modi’s articulation of “Make for the World” can indeed provide the requisite boost to economic growth. But it demands a host of policy changes at Centre and state levels to make it easier to start businesses in India and provide inputs at competitive prices.

Another welcome feature of Saturday’s speech was the absence of political baiting. Populist imperatives have delayed reforms, prevented the government from reaching out to the opposition, or admitting past mistakes. The Covid pandemic is an opportune moment to make a fresh start on a clean slate. We are now in a transitory period separating pre- and post-corona epochs. It presents Modi with a chance to mature into a reformer and statesman, turning crisis into opportunity and deftly letting go of old, statist dogma to embrace new possibilities.

At the pinnacle of his mastery over the political narrative, it is 2024 and beyond that Modi must now worry about. Bringing together Centre and states, including non-BJP ones, to craft a common national programme for economic revival is critical because most licences and clearances hampering businesses rest with states and civic bodies. By the time India turns 75, two years from now, BJP must aim for a roaring national economy. Among other things, that would also be its passport for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Modi’s Independence Day speech marks a good start.