What Modi’s Different Speeches in Manipur and Assam Tell Us About This Political Moment

New Delhi: In the many speeches that Narendra Modi, as prime minister, had delivered at public rallies since 2014, the ones that he had given during his latest visit to the Northeast from September 13 to 14, stand out as examples of how to act as a public speaker when caught in two radically different circumstances in a short interval of time. 

Modi, without a doubt, has been a subject of study for a section of political observers and researchers because of his speeches, which several times are laced with communally loaded references. These are subtle, though sometimes not, and often form the core of his appeal. These speeches have in the past, excited the base and helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win elections. 

Let’s look at the sum of the two speeches he gave in his half-a-day trip to Manipur on September 13, and the one he delivered at a massive rally in Assam’s communally-volatile Darrang on September 14. 

This pit stop to Manipur drew attention because the prime minister was found missing in action when a bloody ethnic conflict had engulfed the state even though a much-touted double engine sarkar of his party was functioning in May 2023. 

Worse, the conflict has continued to fester without the sign of a solution for peace anytime soon. At least 60,000 people are still living without the certainty of ever going home. Those who have lost their near and dear ones haven’t got justice yet. 

The state’s economy is in shambles.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a roadshow in Imphal, Manipur. Photo: PTI via PMO

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Parallel to local interest, for Modi watchers too, it was a moment to watch how he faced a battered public in a state which saw the breakdown of any double-engine sarkar so completely for the first time in the country, so much so that Delhi had to clamp down President’s Rule, after putting in suspended animation a government run by the BJP. 

The dream of 'Acche Din' went awry in Manipur like nowhere else.

In the past one and a half years, Modi had visited Assam more than once but hadn’t done a stopover to Manipur in the neighbourhood even after the people of that state continued to plead him for one, in the ardent hope that their conditions would get better with the prime minister’s visit. 

Why now?

Late as he may be, will he visit the relief camps finally? Will he speak about a road map to peace in his public speeches? More importantly, will he tell the upset lot why he didn’t visit them? After all, Modi, as their prime minister, was accountable to them.  

Modi’s visits are meticulously choreographed, planned to the last detail to ensure his Father Christmas image remains intact. Naturally then, in the run-up to the Manipur visit, hope was served by the administration through media in generous dollops; there was pre-publicity about the PM coming to announce projects worth crores of Rupees for the state. It, however, couldn’t lift enough the spirits of the public on either side of the ethnic divide. 

But diktats were passed by the interested parties on both sides for attendance at both the PM rallies. The Wire has learnt that Kuki-Zo armed groups, enthused by the freshly renewed Suspension of Operation (SoO), ordered the displaced people of their community residing in several desolate relief camps to be at the Peace Grounds in Churachandpur, “else their ration supply would be cut off”. Off they went braving heavy rains, many of whom were women. Several school children had to stand for hours to wave the tricolour at Modi’s entourage as the prime minister.

Modi had to go down national highway number 2, the highway from Imphal to reach Churachandpur due to inclement weather. The same highway which a Meitei cannot think of taking to Churachandpur anymore, nor a Kuki to access the Imphal airport and their homes in the state capital.

The Wire was told by several local people that in Imphal, anyone who gets a salary from the government – be it an ASHA or Anganwadi worker, a school or college teacher, a fourth-grade employee – they were asked to be at the Kangla Fort to fill up the chairs. On a rainy day, several such attendees left after clicking a selfie with the backdrop of Modi’s photo at the venue, “just to show it as a proof” in case we are accused of violating that unwritten writ.

Whether one was present under the rain-soaked tents or not, the attention of one and all in Manipur on September 13 was, on the content of Modi’s speeches. At the end of it though, no one was happy. It came across to them as lacklustre.

No doubt, the speeches were devoid of the usual colour, the self-righteous smirk, the force and the intonation of the voice that usually accompany Modi’s public deliveries. It was also presented with another important omission – pointing fingers at Nehru and the Congress (who else?). Also, not even once did Modi mention the magic of the double engine sarkar.

In a listless voice, the prime minister did follow the choreography by speaking about the promises that the crores he would send to Manipur could do to elevate the life of the locals; the promise of bringing development to their door and employment for the youth.

However, he remained steadfast on keeping his silence about why he refused to visit the state since 2023.

On looking back, one can say without a doubt that his Manipur speeches were flat and vapid because they didn’t have Modi in them – didn’t have that bombast and the flair. The communal overtone was missing too. Even as the peddler of that dream of Viksit Bharat (developed nation), a repackaging of the Ache Din promise, he wasn’t sure if he should smile sharing its possibility in Manipur.

He didn’t, finally.

To see the prime minister in his usual mode, Modi watchers had to wait a few hours more till he reached Assam – till he addressed a massive rally in communally-sensitive Darrang district’s Mangaldoi area.

There, the promise of the double engine sarkar was back. Never mind, if it had actually fallen flat in the neighbouring state.

While in Manipur, the sound of public screaming ‘Modi, Modi’ didn’t reach his ears, in Mangaldoi, it did.  

Even though the demand of the Meitei community on the BJP government has been to sieve ‘illegal immigrants’ by carrying out an Assam-like NRC in Manipur, on the premise that it would lead to a demographic imbalance if not done, Modi was quiet in Imphal. No promises were made there. 

On the other hand, in his Mangaldoi speech, he was seen particularly playing with it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering during laying of foundation stone and inauguration of developmental works, in Darrang, Assam. Photo: PTI

“After the Bharatiya Janata Party/National Democratic Alliance governments came to power, we have been taking action against encroachers, and the state government here has started a campaign to free those lands. We won’t allow illegal infiltration and attempts to change demographic balance in border areas to happen,” Modi said in his 45-minute long speech. He also reminded the people that the first spark of the anti-foreigner movement of the 1980s was ignited in Mangaldoi. 

Clearly, the prime minister was soliciting for votes by nudging at the strong anti-infiltrator sentiments of the state’s majority Assamese community to help his party corner power for the third time in 2026. A fresh stab at the polarising strategy after its ‘jati mati bheti’ election slogan had failed to deliver anything tangible to his Assamese tribal and non-tribal voter base. 

By referring to ‘demographic balance’ in his speech, Modi was clearly aiming at singling out the state’s "Miya" (Muslims of Bengal origin) community as the punching bag for all the woes of the non-Muslims of the state. His aim was clear – unite all such constituencies to ensure a handsome win in 2026. As usual, in doing so, he became the BJP’s mascot and forgot the constitution. 

Modi claimed the Assam government’s eviction drives as a move aimed at ‘infiltrators’. But what the prime minister kept away from the public was that those who have been evicted as ‘infiltrators’ have been settled elsewhere by the Himanta Biswa Sarma government.

If they are truly infiltrators or foreigners – not Indian citizens – why have they been granted alternative land and compensation?

In his Mangaldoi speech, the prime minister also mentioned the state’s Gorukhuti agricultural project as a successful model as it was started by the BJP government after ‘infiltrators’ were evicted from that area. He didn’t tell the public though that those who have been identified as ‘infiltrators’ in that area too were given one bigha of land in an alternative area by the Sarma government – clearly because they are Indian citizens and the state government had, therefore, to follow the rules.

Every eviction that the state has carried out has the component of alternative land/compensation, by the way. But the question to ask here remained unasked: for what purpose are these huge tracks of land being cleared in the name of evicting ‘infiltrators’?   

Additionally, the Gorukhuti project that Modi praised in his Mangaldoi speech has been mired in allegations of corruption against his partymen, particularly those allegations levelled against the family of the state tourism minister Jayanta Malla Baruah. 

As per a recent report in Pratidin Times, based on an RTI reply of the government, as many as 300 cows from Gujarat’s Gir were brought to Assam to be part of a dairy project at Gorukhuti. However, 90 of them were sold. The news report had said that the wife of the minister, known to be extremely close to chief minister Sarma, was a beneficiary of the project as dozens of the missing Gir cows were allegedly diverted to her dairy enterprise.

The BJP minister had admitted that his wife was a beneficiary of the project but had added that everything took place “legally” and through a “transparent process”. The opposition Congress’s complaints have thus far been responsible for the filing of two FIRs against him.

Modi’s Mangaldoi speech made one thing clear to political watchers of Assam: that he credited chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for carrying out evictions against those he termed as “infiltrators” was seen as a signal that he would remain as CM if the BJP were to get re-elected in 2026.

“This would bring a new energy to Himanta da now,” a state BJP leader told The Wire.  

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