Prime Minister Narendra Modi opted for paper notes over a teleprompter to deliver his Independence Day speech from Red Fort on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi ditched the teleprompter and opted for paper notes to deliver his speech addressing the nation on the 76th Independence Day. This was the ninth consecutive time that the prime minister addressed the citizens from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day.
In his 83-minute-long speech, PM Modi talked about the forgotten heroes of the country, panchpran, naari shakti, corruption and family dynasty, among other things.
Modi’s choice of paper notes follows an earlier incident in January where he was criticised for stopping midway while talking after an alleged teleprompter malfunction. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had and tweeted: “Even the teleprompter could not take so many lies.”
A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that helps a person to read speech or script. It is commonly used in television newsrooms. Its screen is placed slightly below the video camera on which the presenter reads the script.
The speed of speech is controlled by an operator who listens carefully to the speaker and follows their speech. When the speaker pauses his address, the operator pauses the text. However, the audience does not see these texts. Only the operator and the speaker can see it.
