Contrasts UPA-era ‘despair’ with 7.8% growth
New Delhi, Sep 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Congress-led government before 2014, contrasting what he described as an era of “policy paralysis” and “despair” with India’s current economic and social strength.
Addressing the centenary celebrations of Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Modi said the world now sees India as the fastest-growing major economy, citing quarterly growth of 7.8 per cent as among a series of positive developments in the past week.
He also pointed to a Japanese agency’s upgrade of India’s credit rating, a nine per cent rise in power generation, a 20 per cent increase in overall vehicle sales, including around 20 per cent growth in two-wheeler sales and nearly 30 per cent in three-wheelers, besides strengthening consumer demand and expanding commercial activity.
Recalling the situation in 2013, Modi said the country was then facing weak growth, high inflation, a strained current account deficit, industrial slowdown, corruption allegations, security challenges and terrorist attacks.
“Growth was on the floor, and inflation and corruption were at their peak,” he said, describing the period as one of “policy paralysis” that had left the country in a “quagmire of despair”.
He said India was then counted among the “fragile five nations”, while today the world talks about its “policy dynamism”. Modi also said the “backbone of Naxalism” had been broken.
Taking a further swipe at his political opponents, Modi referred to his Independence Day address from the Red Fort on August 15, when he used the term “Dimagi Naxals”.
He said he had administered “homoeopathic pills” to his critics by using the expression.
“Homoeopathic treatment only aggravates the disease for a short time. As soon as I gave this pill, all the mental Naxals started coming out. But the public is seeing their true colours,” he said.
Modi also described two kinds of people — those who positively transform society’s strength into national strength and those who become a “Naraz Fufa” (angry uncle) over every issue.
He cited opposition to the world’s largest statue, bullet trains, UPI, semiconductor chips, the new Parliament building and a memorial for army heroes as examples of what he described as a tendency to question every major initiative.
“But India gave a befitting reply to such uncles,” he said.
Modi also recalled the 2013 Kedarnath disaster and the 2008 banking crisis and Mumbai terror attack while contrasting the handling of crises under previous governments with those faced by his government.
He said his government had faced major challenges including the Covid pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran conflict, but asserted that India had emerged stronger.
“People thought they would crush Modi. But the people of my country have such power that the desires of those who wish India ill are being suppressed,” he said.
He said India had signed free trade agreements with nearly 40 countries over the past decade, arguing that access to new markets would create new opportunities for the country’s youth.
“Today, the country is much more economically and socially secure than in 2013. But some people are beginning to panic,” Modi said.
Addressing students, Modi said the aspirations of young Indians had changed significantly.
He said before 2013, students could not easily imagine building startups, unicorns or space ventures, whereas today’s youth increasingly aspire to create businesses and enterprises in emerging sectors.
“Why can’t the world’s global firms be ours?” he asked, noting that Indians were already leading some of the world’s largest companies.
Modi expressed confidence that India would become a hub for research and innovation, develop its own space station and eventually host the Olympics.
He urged young people to contribute to the country’s journey towards a developed India and self-reliance.
Recalling his earlier association with SRCC, Modi noted that people had been revisiting his 2013 address at the college, when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat and an opposition leader.
He said he had not used that earlier platform merely to attack the then government but had instead presented a positive vision.
Returning to the “glass” metaphor from his 2013 speech, Modi said while some saw the glass as half full or half empty, he had viewed it as full — half with water and half with air.
He said that optimism had informed the country’s subsequent growth journey and argued that India’s ability to maintain robust growth despite global conflicts and disruptions demonstrated its underlying strength.
