On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed uninterrupted 25 years in power — as Gujarat chief minister and the country’s prime minister — he delivered an impassioned speech at the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Sabha in the national capital.
“Hum karke rahenge, we will do it,” he said, and got the gathering to chant: “top 3 economy, we will do it”; “atmanirbhar bharat, we will do it”; “global manufacturing hub, we will do it”; “antariksh mein kadam, we will do it”; and, “Vikshit Bharat by 2047, we will do it.”
The rhyme and rhythm of PM Modi’s “hum karke rahenge” slogan rang a bell. Remember then-Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar’s slogans upon his return to the campus from jail in that infamous sedition case in 2016 — “Hum kya chahate, aazaadi… hum le ke rahenge aazaadi…bhukhmari se aazaadi, punjiwaad se aazaadi…main bhi bolun, azaadi, tum bhi bolo, azaadi”.
It’s just that the Comrade-turned-Congressman can’t claim the copyright to the rhyme and rhythm. PM Modi’s”we will do it” slogan also sounded so similar to Barack Obama’s “yes, we can” campaign slogan in the 2008 US presidential elections.
Whoever is writing PM Modi’s slogans and speeches nowadays is really tired of his job or has run out of original ideas. Kanhaiya Kumar’s slogans resonated with his fellow Comrades on the JNU campus. And Obama’s slogan did become a rallying cry for the young Americans. But to expect the same, old slogans to endear PM Modi to students and the youth today is the height of desperation. Just as the visuals of a young lady in ripped jeans seated right next to PM Modi during ‘bhajan clubbing’ wouldn’t be enough to make him ‘cool’ among Gen Z.
Viksit Bharat, a problematic slogan
Having said that, the problem is not the borrowed rhyme or rhythm. The real problem lies in the Modi government’s principal slogan itself — Viksit Bharat 2047. A NITI Aayog approach paper said in July 2024: “To become a developed nation, we need to strive to be a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047 with a per capita income of USD 18,000 per annum….”
“The GDP would have to grow nine times from today’s USD 3.36 trillion and the per capita income would need to rise 8 times from today’s USD 2,392 per annum.”
India’s GDP was around $2 trillion in 2014 when PM Modi took over the country’s reins. In 2018, when the PM declared that India would be a $5 trillion economy by 2022, the annual GDP was $2.7 trillion. It’s estimated at $4.15 trillion today. Basically, India’s GDP has doubled in the last 12 years. Going by the NITI Aayog’s 2024 approach paper, it has to grow many times from today for India to become viksit or developed. A very, very tall ask, obviously. I am an incorrigible optimist. And it helps that I don’t understand economics.
Why Gen Z can’t wait for Modi to deliver
Why is it that Gen Z doesn’t show the kind of optimism I have? After all, PM Modi is asking for only 21 years more to make India a developed country. Whether that happens or not is something that can be discussed only in 2047. Till then, trust his words. It’s about faith, not facts. He should probably listen to what then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had told the US Congress in 1985: “India is an old country, but a young nation; and like the young everywhere, we are impatient.”
It was Gen X that Rahul Gandhi’s late father was finding impatient. He brought computers and telephones for them, which have evolved into laptops and mobiles two generations later — the tools that have made today’s students and youth the ‘Insta generation’. The students and youth who voted en masse for PM Modi in 2014 are in their 30s and 40s now. Don’t blame them if their patience for the fulfilment of their dreams is running out after 12 years. And those who were in schools in 2014 may be scratching their heads in confusion and ignorance when PM Modi tells them about the omissions and commissions of the Congress era.
In 2024, 22.78 per cent of the electors fell in the 18-29 years category. If those in the 30s in 2014 are added to this in 2029, the ‘impatient’ lot might play a decisive role. Asking them to wait for 21 more years to realize their dreams is tantamount to asking them to proactively look for an alternative party. Viksit Bharat 2047 is, therefore, a terrible political slogan. It violates the very fundamentals, the core belief system of the ‘Insta generation’.
Besides, asking people to vote today to realize their dreams in 2047, however rosy it might be, amounts to an assault on their wisdom. A promise for 2047 may end up being projected as an excuse for today’s failures. It doesn’t help that the BJP and the Modi government have been changing deadlines for delivery and shifting the goalposts way too often.
PM Modi’s promise of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2022 ended up becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047 project. He had fixed the year 2022 for doubling the farmers’ income; he doesn’t talk about it any longer. Just as he seldom talks about Skill India, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat, and many other missions he had launched to fulfil the BJP’s 2014 manifesto promises.
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Credibility crisis
Under the sub-head “Credibility Crisis” in its 2014 manifesto, the Bharatiya Janata Party had said: “The biggest challenge that India faces today is to restore the credibility of, and trust in the Union Government…. The Congress party has not only lowered the dignity of the Government, but also the dignity of India. This is what is driving recent adversities like the falling rupee and countries riding roughshod over us. The BJP will work for restoring the trust and credibility of the Government. We will also ensure that the chain of responsibility and accountability is built in the system.”
It’s probably not a good time to remember that manifesto, especially amid a raging debate over the rupee falling to 97 per dollar and US Vice President JD Vance’s “deeply offensive” comments and announcements about Indian professionals and companies. As for the responsibility and accountability in the system, who would know it better than Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar?
PM Modi needs to do a lot to address the challenges today. He should start with an end to the ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ slogan. Because it sounds like empty rhetoric that only reminds of failed promises of the past.
DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. He tweets @dksingh73. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)