It is true that India’s enhanced and ever-rising status in the new world order no longer needs any affirmation, but Mexico’s recent urging to the United Nations to include Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a proposed committee to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine did that all the same.
The West led by the United States had always been keen on having India on its side right from the time when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February this year, but much of that was in the form of pressure that New Delhi faced – at the UN, in bilateral talks with Western nations, not to mention the global media – to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s regime and support international sanctions against Russia.
However, India never gave in. It did not budge from its position of neutrality, and it did so with unapologetic conviction. It played a humanitarian role and persistently pushed for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
New Delhi’s stance might have disappointed the Western forces in the beginning, but it earned India a few things: the reputation of being a nation that unfailingly prioritised its people’s interests, an image of being an all-weather friend who would never be a pushover and, ultimately, respect from all sides.
This respect was unmistakably evident at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. As the world watched Prime Minister Modi’s every word and every move there, he – in the usual fashion – did not miss a step. After all, he is the man behind India’s new brand of bold and independent yet outward-looking and meticulously measured foreign policies.
Prime Minister Modi’s strong, decisive and exemplary leadership over the past eight years has worked wonders on many fronts and at many levels.
It has inspired Indians – more than ever before – to value their nationality, take pride in their culture, preserve their heritage and, perhaps most importantly, believe in themselves and their dreams.
It is making businesses, both within and beyond the borders, more and more certain about India’s future as an economic superpower as well as increasingly confident about its present position as one of the world’s most attractive investment destinations. The paradigm shift in the Tata Group’s business growth strategy, which is seeing the nation’s largest conglomerate focus on the domestic market far more than the international market, stands out as one of the brightest examples of this trend.
It is only under his leadership that the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as an electoral juggernaut that looks increasingly unstoppable with every passing year.
At a recently held event in New York to discuss the book ‘Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery’, External Affairs Minister S Jaishakar beautifully articulated his thoughts about Prime Minister Modi and the changes he has brought about in our nation. “I would actually say Modi himself is a product of that change. The fact that someone like him eventually has become the Prime Minister of India itself shows how much the country has changed.”
Truer words were never spoken.
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