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As India heads towards the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, two distinct narratives are being played out; one from the government, showcasing the developments carried out in the last 9 years from 2014 to 2024, a vision for 2047, when India will complete 100 years of independence, and be a prosperous country, with GDP of around 30 trillion dollars. The other narrative, mainly from the principal opposition party, projects that the Indian democracy is under attack, high unemployment, media is biased and institutions have been sabotaged, although, the economic liberalization in 1991, and subsequent rapid growth, was heralded by the Congress government of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh.
However, recent reports and musing from economists and scholar’s project that India will surpass the German and Japanese economies, by the end of the decade, mainly due to a stable central government, positive and progressive policies, demography and conducive environment for foreign investments.
The December 2023, 15th edition, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), forecasts that India will sustain a robust growth and emerge as the third largest economy by 2032, driven by India’s large and youthful population, growing middle class, a dynamic entrepreneurial sector among other factors. Looking ahead, Quote {India is expected to overtake both China and the United States after 2080, based on demographic estimates and projections} Unquote.
At the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said that India is poised to become the world’s third largest economy with a GDP of over 5 trillion dollars by 2027-28, on the back of a strong foundation laid by the government over the last nine years.
In contrast, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party, in a talk entitled “Learning to Listen in the 21st Century” at Cambridge Judge Business School on 28th February 2023, while elaborating on his Bharat Jodo Yatra, two divergent perspectives of China and United States, stressed that the institutional framework, free press, judiciary was constrained in India, along with coercion by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies and attacks on minorities, dalits and tribals.
While addressing the press in Brussels on September 8, 2023, Shri. Gandhi said that European parliamentarians were concerned about the slide of democracy in India. While answering a question at the University of Oslo, about health care, Rahul Gandhi mentioned that cutting edge work was done in Rajasthan, as a pilot and will be implemented if voted to power.
So, it does raise a few questions:
Don’t these talks in foreign countries about the assault of democracy, by the present government, lower the stature of India? Afterall, it is an individual’s viewpoint.
What purpose will it serve appraising Indian nationals studying in a foreign country or persons of Indian origin, about deficiencies in India, in shaping the minds and electoral outcome of our country?
Isn’t the present government doing a decent job in improving infrastructure, expanding the economy rapidly, strong internal and external security, excellent digital framework and astute foreign policy being just a few in a long list of achievements?
Aren’t our adversaries, also, grudgingly acknowledging, the fast pace of advances in various spheres over the past nine years, in continuum to the strides taken in the past?
Democracy is said to be a work in progress. Why don’t leaders or members of political parties from other countries vent their problems in foreign countries? And seek their “concern”?
Awake India! Are we on the cusp of a home run? Your time as informed citizens have arrived. While you exercise your franchise in the coming elections, look at the granularity of the political parties’ accomplishments, failures, skewed strategies and outright falsehood. Do it for India’s future, your future and above all, for the future generations.
India will continue to be a stable, vibrant democracy, whatever one says, a beacon of hope for many countries, and exemplify the adage of unity in diversity!
[Views have been arrived at, from open-source information]
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