This week, we look at Network 18’s Independence Day special programme that tracked the history of India through the speeches of its prime ministers from 1947 to 2022. In a one-hour show, the host, Anupam Kher, spent about seven minutes on Jawaharlal Nehru and 15 minutes or so on Narendra Modi. No prizes for guessing who won the best PM race. Kher told his viewers how Nehru’s speeches lacked data and detail, how he insulted Indians by calling them lazy, how he had no clue about handling the problem of hunger and starvation in Independent India, and, of course, how he didn’t pay his tributes to soldiers who died in the China war. Cut to Modi, and the viewer was told how inspiring and great the dear leader has been.
