New Delhi: Signalling his intent for a much longer innings in public life, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday he will neither tire, stop, nor veer away from the path until India becomes a developed nation by 2047.
He was addressing the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Sabha to mark his 25 years in public office—starting as the chief minister of Gujarat on this day in 2001, and then moving to Delhi as the prime minister in 2014.
To this end, Modi gave out two new slogans— ‘we will do it’ and ‘desh ke liye’—which were enthusiastically chanted by BJP workers and supporters at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium’s auditorium.
The crowd chanted ‘we will do it’ for every goal PM Modi enlisted, including Viksit Bharat, Aatmanirbhar Bharat, establishing India as a global manufacturing hub, expanding space exploration and even hosting the Olympics.
“It would be unfair to our country if we move forward with small and easy goals. This is the time to set big, extraordinary, and ambitious goals for our country,” the PM said.
He emphasised several key ambitions, including building a better India, positioning the country among the top three global economies and eradicating poverty. The prime minister also hit out at detractors of his Viksit Bharat 2047 goal by inferring the mindsets of a colonised country a century ago.
“Some people say that this Viksit Bharat goal is far away. But I want to tell my countrymen, look back at history. A 100 years ago, in 1920s and 30s, after nearly 1,000 years of slavery and its impact, with broken confidence, a poverty-ridden country, with plots to divide society…in such times, even to think of independence would have been so difficult. People were fighting and sacrificing themselves for it. But that India would rise up again would have been such a difficult belief,” he said.
स्व से समष्टि तक
स्वयं से वयम् तक
मेरे जीवन का कण-कण, क्षण-क्षण
भारत भूमि को समर्पित रहेगा। pic.twitter.com/D1xrs878Y1
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 7, 2026
Talking about his public life, the PM said, “25 years of serving the people… I bow to 140 crore Indians for their trust and look forward to serving the nation with greater commitment in the times to come.”
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‘Indian pilot and Indian-made aircraft’
During his hour-long speech, the prime minister made several references to the Bhagwad Gita, and repeatedly used words such as ‘sankalp (resolve)’ ‘sadhana’ (achievement) ’ ‘karma’, linking them with national duty and pride.
He used the incident involving flydubai pilot Captain Smit Machchhar whose timely action saved the lives of over 170 passengers, to invoke national pride and set long-term goals.
“Today, the world is talking about India’s pilot (Machchgar). A day will come when the world will talk about Made-in-India aircraft. These goals will be fulfilled only when we have long-term goals,” Modi said.
Since 2014, the PM-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been adding to the long list of its flagship campaigns, including ‘Make in India’ and ‘Vocal for Local,’ as a way to instill national pride.
Modi contrasted this with the era before he took over as the prime minister in 2014.
He said that prior to 2014, the world spoke about the Indian economy as a “gone case” with unchecked price rise and myriad other challenges. Modi said he faced these challenges with the ‘we will do it’ mantra, using all his experience and learnings from his time as the chief minister of Gujarat.
“Today, after 12 years (since he became prime minister), the picture has completely changed. At that time (prior to 2014), even one problem would shake the Indian economy. Today if there is a problem, there are talks about the resilience of the Indian economy,” he said.
The talk of ‘policy paralysis’ that dominated public discourse before 2014 has since been replaced with discussions on ‘reform express’, he said.
He said the country has moved from being import-heavy to export-oriented, including making its own cell phones, achieving high agricultural growth and efficiently using solar energy and other renewable resources.
He also said that the efforts of the people helped the country become one of the top five economies globally. He said the country emerged from all challenges, including those pre-dating Independence, Covid-19, terrorism and Naxalism. Twenty-five crore people have been lifted from below the poverty line, he said.
He attributed this transformation to “niyat saaf aur neethi spasht” (clean intent and clear policy).
He also presented the country’s huge population as its strength, saying India has 140 crore solutions for every challenge it faces, reiterating that this was no time to relax but to move forward with grit and intent.
“How young India is, how many youngsters we have—history has given us a big opportunity and we should not lose it,” he said.
He said the people of the previous generations sacrificed their lives to secure independence, and the current generation must live to build Viksit Bharat. “The question today is not just where we have to reach in 2047, but what we need to do from today to achieve that goal.”
He said that when the people come together for the country “nothing will be impossible to achieve”.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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Hadd phenku aadmi hai.