Though he did not take names, he primarily had Congress in the crosshairs, with a reference to BJP’s “Jhooth Ki Goonj” campaign against Rahul Gandhi’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj”.

With his “dimagi Naxal” swipe during his Independence Day address continuing to elicit strong reactions from his critics, he doubled down on his barb.

“I gave homeopathic pills in the form of ‘dimagi Naxal’ and all the ‘dimagi Naxals’ came crawling out.

The speech was marked by the PM making an effort to connect with Gen Z. His use of ‘OG’ resonated with students as Modi talked about UPA govt. “These people draw pleasure from the common and poor citizens of the country running around them.

They operated through this ‘mai-baap’ culture for decades. It was in SRCC that Modi had delivered his speech in Feb 2013, which had virtually launched his prime ministerial campaign months before BJP named him as its choice. That speech had in a way generated a wave, Modi said, noting that he had then chosen to lay out his vision.

“The country is now more secure socially and economically,” he said.