India will be a developed country by 2047, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his 10th Independence Day speech, juxtaposing that long-term goal with the more short-term objective of the country’s economy becoming the world’s third largest — it is currently fifth — which he said would happen during his third term. He highlighted democracy, diversity and demography as the structural advantages that would enable India’s rise.
The vision, short- and long-term, and economic and political — if Modi wins a third consecutive term in 2024, he will, become only the second Indian Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to do so — has found mention in some of the his recent speeches, and continues a theme from last year: India as a developed nation by the 100th anniversary of its Independence.
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Modi’s speeches, in both 2022 and 2023 have been forward-looking, shifting the narrative itself, and the PM referred to this — in a speech that lasted 90 minutes, among the longest he has made on the occasion.Modi said that if his first term was based on the promise of change, his second term was based on performance, then the third term would be based on “unprecedented development”.
But even as he looked ahead, Modi made sure he mentioned three things: corruption, which is widely held responsible for the drubbing of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance by his BJP in 2014; appeasement, which is widely seen by the BJP’s support base as the reason for many of the country’s ills; and nepotism (and dynastic politics), which he has repeatedly targeted, setting himself and his politics apart from his opponents.
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Fusing governance and politics, with less than eight months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, Modi said that 135 million people have risen from being poor to joining the ranks of the middle-class during his term in office, and reached out to a range of social and demographic groups, particularly the young and women.
He gave an audit of his government’s welfare spending in the past nine years, announced new initiatives catering to urban lower middle class, poor and women.
He framed India’s foreign policy posture as one of being a “vishwa mitra”, a friend of the world.
Modi also hailed India’s progress in tackling internal security, acknowledged the violence and suffering in Manipur, but claimed that peace was returning to the state.
Hinting at the outcome in the 2024 election, he said he would inaugurate the projects for which he laid the foundation stone, and be at the Red Fort next year again.
Optimism and determination
But the overall tone of the speech was laced with optimism and determination, with Modi repeatedly expressing confidence in Indian capabilities which, he suggested, was now recognised by the world “without ifs and buts”.
“After the Second World War, there was a new world order. And I can see that post-Covid, there is a new world order taking shape. Geopolitical equations are changing. And in this changing climate, your capabilities are being recognised,” Modi said. He added that at a time when powerful economies were collapsing and supply chains lay devastated, the world had seen India call for humanity and human values. India was seen as a force for global stability, he said. “The ball is in our court now. We shouldn’t let go of this opportunity.”
Referring to citizens as “parivarjan”, or his wider family, throughout the speech, Modi said that they were very fortunate to be living in today’s era where the young had catapulted India into becoming a startup power, women-centric development had taken concrete form, the world had come to see India’s diversity and capacity including during the G20 meetings hosted over the past year in different cities, there was widespread curiosity and interest in India’s digital initiatives, rating agencies lauded India’s progress, India had become the voice for the Global South, and India’s role in global supply chains was increasing.
The government’s report card
The PM then went back to 2014, the year he was first elected, and said that citizens had wisely, after three decades of uncertainty and political compromises, voted for a strong and stable government. Referring to himself in third person, Modi said, “You made a strong government in 2014. That’s why Modi had the strength to reform. When Modi did one reform after another, my bureaucracy, across the country, performed. And when people joined it, it transformed,” playing up his governance mantra of “reform, perform, transform”.
Drawing a contrast with the pre-2014 situation, Modi said India now had a strong economy — and when the economy became strong, and the government spent money honestly, the country’s capabilities increased. He then offered a “hisaab”, an account, of the government’s spending under different categories.
“Ten years ago, the Centre used to release ₹30 lakh crore to states. Now it gives ₹100 lakh crore. Ten years ago, it gave ₹70,000 crore for local development. Now it gives ₹3 lakh crore. For homes of the poor, it spent ₹90,000 crore; now, we have spent ₹4 lakh crore. ₹10 lakh crore is given for urea subsidy. We gave ₹3.5 lakh crore to MSMEs (micro, small and medium sector enterprises) during the pandemic and didn’t let them die,” Modi said, adding examples of the government spending on one rank one pension, Mudra loans, income support to farmers, health insurance, provision of piped water, and other schemes.
The PM said, “In five years, 13.5 crore (135 million) people have risen above poverty line to neo-middle class. There is no greater satisfaction in life than this. When poverty reduces, the strength of the middle class increases.” Promising that he would elevate India to the world’s three largest economies in his next term, Modi pointed to the interconnected nature of the economy and said, “When the purchasing power of poor increases, the commercial power of middle class increases. When purchasing power of rural areas increase, so do that of towns and cities.” He also announced new schemes of loans for housing for those in urban areas who lived in unauthorised colonies, slums, and on rent and wished to buy a house and another scheme for workers with traditional skills who work with their tools, such as goldsmiths, ironsmiths, washermen, hairdressers and masons who mostly come from the backward communities.
But recognising that inflation remains a concern among citizens, Modi said that after the pandemic, the war — in a reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — created new problems. As India imported goods, it also imported inflation. Claiming that the government has taken steps to address this, Modi said he wasn’t yet satisfied and will do more to reduce prices.
Then, after acknowledging a pressing issue for citizens, Modi returned to the theme of progress in diverse domains, from renewable energy and green hydrogen to rail modernisation and electric buses, from internet penetration in rural areas to quantum computing, from farmer producer organisations to semiconductor manufacturing, from the opportunities for the differently abled to special training for the young in sport, from the expansion of highways and information ways to railways and waterways.
“If we lay the foundation stone, we inaugurate it,” Modi said, suggesting that the government was efficient and met targets ahead of time. In the course of offering various examples to substantiate his point, Modi mentioned having made the new Parliament before time. “This is a new India. It is filled with self-confidence. It doesn’t stop. It doesn’t tire. It doesn’t lose,” he added with rhetorical flourish.
Economic strength had also translated into strategic strength, Modi said, lauding the personnel of the Indian armed forces as well as central armed paramilitary forces and other uniformed personnel. “Our borders have become more secure. The army is undergoing a modernisation, it is becoming younger and more battle-ready. There is continuous reform.” If earlier, there were frequent terror attacks, the country was now more secure; terror-related killings had dropped; there was a change in Naxal-affected areas; and the country was recognising its border villages, which Modi termed as India’s first villages, not last villages, redefining the idea of frontiers. He also acknowledged the presence of 600 village pradhans from these border villages at the Red Fort as special guests.
Five pledges, three challenges
To make India a developed country by 2047, Modi spoke of five issues.
The first was a commitment to unity. “Unity gives us strength, from the north to south, east to west, from men to women… We must not do anything or say anything to weaken unity.”
The second was the idea that viksit Bharat must also be shrestha Bharat, or developed India needs to be marked by quality — in terms of made-in-India products, Indian institutions, decision-making processes, services, and words.
The third was the importance of women-led development, where Modi spoke of India having the highest number of women pilots, its moon mission being led by women scientists, and girl students embracing science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. He also announced that the government aimed to support 20 million women become “lakhpatis” (with an income of over ₹100,000); and begin a scheme to provide drones and offer drone repair training to women self help groups to aid in agricultural activities.
The fourth was balanced regional development.
And the fifth was incorporating global welfare as a part of national character. “After Covid, when we help the world, we are seen as vishwa mitra — friend of the world,” Modi said, a distinctive formulation, for many in government had preferred using “vishwaguru” or teacher of the world as India’s self image. Modi referred to various ways in which India had shaped the global narrative and institutional landscape, with its emphasis on themes such as “one sun, one earth, one grid”, or “One earth, one health” or “One earth, one family, one future”, or embracing LIFE (Lifestyle for Environment) to battle climate crisis or its leadership of the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
But in order to achieve this, Modi said, “We will have to accept some truths and I need your help to resolve it. I seek your blessings. And I say this on the basis of my experience. We need probity, transparency and objectivity. As institutions, as citizens, this is our collective duty. I fully believe that India will be developed by 2047. But this is not the time to turn a blind eye to obstacles.”
These obstacles, Modi said, were corruption, nepotism and appeasement.
“We must create hatred towards corruption. There is no greater evil in public life than corruption. The Swachhta Abhiyan (the cleanliness drive) needs this dimension too,” Modi said. He offered an example from his years in office, saying that technology had helped identify 100 million fake beneficiaries of government schemes using names of those who were not even born. Modi’s critique of corruption comes at a time when the opposition has accused the government of misusing state agencies to selectively go after its adversaries under trumped-up charges of corruption, while the members of the ruling party have claimed that their rivals, during their term in office, had accumulated wealth for which they now seek to evade accountability.
Nepotism, Modi said, was an ill afflicting political parties and contributing to the degeneration of democracy. “Family based parties have one life mantra — of the family, by the family and for the family. They are enemies of talent. They don’t accept capability.” The reference to nepotism comes in the backdrop of a sustained attack by the BJP on the Congress as well as regional parties which have been dominated by one family.
Appeasement, Modi said, had “hurt social justice” like nothing else. And this expanded to appeasement in terms of mindset and government schemes. The PM’s comment comes in the context of the BJP consistently accusing parties of using “secularism” as a garb to woo minority votes by catering to their interests and political needs at the cost of the majority; the opposition believes that the accusation of appeasement is a cover to justify BJP’s majoritarian politics.
Concluding his speech, Modi said, “I live for you. I dream for you. I sweat for you. Not because you have given me this responsibility. But because you are my family.”
