In the biggest speech of the year, and his first major address, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi chose to speak at length about the scourge of rape and violence against women, breaking a long silence on the matter and raising the issue to major prominence.
Modi swept to office in June after the largest election in history, which saw his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win big over the long-ruling Indian National Congress. Modi’s electoral victory came just days before a horrific gang rape in the Uttar Pradesh saw two young girls murdered and left hanging from a mango tree for their village to find. The violent incident was just the latest in a string that have earned international headlines and placed a spotlight on the fact that in India “every 60 minutes two women are raped” as a 2012 United Nations-linked report found.

Though large-scale protests were mobilized — and local officials often commented to disastrous effect — the newly installed government had remained mostly silent on the matter of rape culture throughout the country. Modi changed that with his speech on Friday, India’s independence day, given without script or notes.
In speaking out, Modi challenged citizens and government alike to change the way that rape is thought about. “Today as we hear about the incidents of rapes, our head hangs in shame,” he said in his wide-ranging address. “I want to ask parents when your daughter turns 10 or 12 years old, you ask, ‘Where are you going? When will you return?’ Do the parents dare to ask their sons, ‘Where are you going? Why are you going? Who are your friends?’ After all, the rapist is also someone’s son. If only parents decide to put as many restrictions on their sons as they do on their own daughters.”