Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a guard of honour at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on August 3
Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes his first speech from Delhi's historic Red Fort on Independence Day next week, and a four-member committee of top ministers is overseeing preparations for it.
Mr Modi has picked Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananth Kumar and Power Minister Piyush Goyal to coordinate with different ministries and prepare a blue-print for the speech. The committee held its first meeting today.
All ministries have been asked to list the government's achievements, policies and projects in the pipeline. Mr Modi's speech is likely to highlight promises made in the Budget, big ticket reforms and key initiatives for good governance.
Mr Modi has been prepping for this moment for some time now.
On August 14 last year, Independence Day eve, he had had thrown a challenge that his August 15 speech in Gujarat, as chief minister, would draw as much attention as that of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's from the Red Fort.
On Independence Day, he had begun his speech from a college in Bhuj about half an hour after Dr Singh spoke and had torn into the latter's address calling it uninspiring and disappointing. Pumped up BJP leaders had wagered that Mr Modi's next Independence Day speech would be at Delhi's Red Fort.
So fond a wish was it that in election-bound Chhattisgarh in September last, the BJP erected a replica of the Red Fort as a stage for a Modi rally.
Political rivals had scoffed then with the Congress' Kamal Nath saying, "They have created a fake Red Fort in Chhattisgarh. They might also create a fake RCR to fulfill their aspirations."
RCR or Race Course Road is where the Prime Minister's residence is located in Delhi. After a mammoth win in the general elections this year, Mr Modi moved into 7 Race Course Road on May 30.