It would be difficult to take issue with any of the themes that National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval took up in his Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on Thursday, 25 October. The highly cerebral Doval, who has a reputation for operational efficiency, declared:

* India needs a strong, stable and decisive government for the next decade; weak coalitions will not do. 

* India cannot be a soft power because it needs to take hard decisions. 

* India needs to have a big, globally competitive economy and it can be that only if it is technologically ahead. 

* Populism is bad and against the larger national interest. 

* Indian private sector companies should promote India’s strategic interests. 

* Rule of law is extremely important and the temptation to undermine it should be resisted. 

* Hard power and large armies don’t win battles’ technological superiority does.