Dr. Bhuvan Lall

Dr. Bhuvan Lall is an award-winning filmmaker, entrepreneur and author. He has authored books like ‘The Man India Missed The Most: Subhas Chandra Bose’ and ‘The Great Indian Genius Har Dayal’

16th May 2014 was a turning point in Indian history. 

Since 1947, India the largest democracy in the history of the world, with the second-largest population, the seventh-largest landmass and now among the fastest-growing free-market economy was punching far below its weight on the world stage. One man was determined to change that forever. His name was Narendra Modi and patriotism ran in his veins since childhood. After an extraordinary election victory, the change of guard in India was appropriately dubbed as Pre Modi and Post Modi era. For PM Modi had arrived at the right time to play a pivotal role in global politics in the early twenty-first century. 

Inspired by Swami Vivekananda, PM Modi took his seat in the Prime Minister’s office in South Block in New Delhi to serve the interests of the 1.3 billion Indians. Upholding the tenets of India’s constitution his mantra is “Sabka saath, sabka vikas, and subka vishwas”. Without a doubt, this is the right attitude to effectively govern a multicultural and multi-faith nation from Kashmir to Kerala and from Porbandar to Moirang. But PM Modi has an even higher purpose in life, to enable India to unleash the potential of our first world intellect and to emerge as a Vishwa Guru. PM Modi began with imaginative and visionary ideas to fuel the dreams of Indians. The campaigns of Swach Bharat and plans for Digital India were followed by unpretentious construction of toilet facilities and focus on health care, housing, superhighways, and electricity for all Indians by 2022. The Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign, Make In India enterprise, and the Start-Up India innovation plan are strategies designed for generating large-scale exports in the services and manufacturing sector over the next few decades. The smartphone and cell phone penetration has been upwardly mobile with over a billion connections now. India as one of the largest digital content producers and one of the largest publishing nations in the world is a natural magnet for the OTT digital streaming platforms. The genius of our culture, the soft power of Yoga, and our civilizational values are now being spread across the planet. These are prerequisites for India’s progress to be a developed nation. 

PM Modi employing the pragmatic wisdom gained from ancient Indian treatise on statecraft has in six years expanded India’s influence globally by establishing close relationships on all continents. His rapport with a host of heads of global states is unmatched. He displayed his foresight in visiting both Israel as well as Palestine to break the diplomatic impasse. For the past six years, the government led by him is free of scams. His pilgrim like austerity and aesthetic media appearances have spiralled his popularity far ahead of his competitors and perhaps even beyond his predecessors. As a leader of the masses, he has raised the expectations and confidence of over a billion Indians like no one before him. On his arrival at the helm of affairs, the biggest challenge faced by India was the volatile geopolitics of South Asia. After the dastardly Pulwama attack, PM Modi made sure that the Indian Air Force aces successfully devastated the terror factories and camps across our border. Wing Commander Abhinandan’s shooting down an F16 inspired the entire nation and all the Indians living overseas. If there was anyone out there who still doubted the conviction of PM Modi, who still questioned the strength of our democracy, the power of our diplomacy, the might of our economy, the capability of our innovation, the invincibility of our armed forces, and the collective resolve of 1.3 billion Indians – the image of the brave Indian fighter pilot safely making it home provided the answer. 

It was truly a defining moment for India of the 21st century. 

PM Modi the tireless karma yogi with a missionary zeal has set the bar high for himself and kept the dreams of our founding fathers alive. Now to carve a name for himself in history, PM Modi will have to decisively defeat the monsters of hunger and unemployment, certainly destroy the idea of corruption, implement the police and administrative reforms, strengthen the institution of the judiciary, ease one of the world’s worst business environment, bring world-class infrastructure in sports facilities, public hospitals, railways and road transport management, focus on excellence in school and university education, successfully deal with the environmental crisis in the urban centers, settle the hard-to-resolve border issues in the neighborhood and originate solutions that can transform in one generation not only India but conceivably the entire South Asian region from the third world to a first-world economy and most importantly bolster an inclusive and compassionate society. 

It’s a long road ahead of us to become a twenty trillion dollar economy in the Post COVID-19 era yet it is often predicted that the twenty-first century will be India’s century. On the occasion of Independence Day in 2018, speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort, PM Modi the formidable public speaker, quoted Tamil nationalist icon Subramania Bharti, “India will show the path to the world in ridding it of its problems.” And with Narendra Modi, the Patriot, the Pilgrim, and the Prime Minister leading the nation, India remains a ray of hope for much of humankind. 

Jai Hind.