Stuttgart, Germany: As I travel across Germany, I hold my head high. Simply because all my conversations point me to the role India is playing at the world stage thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Policy makers, corporate leaders, and influencers of all hues that I have met in the context of the upcoming second edition of the News9 Global Summit scheduled on October 9 and 10, have come to acknowledge and applaud the stand taken by India in tackling the tariff trauma and tumult. “Modi is no push-over. He will stand strong, in India’s interest,” is the sentiment reverberating across Germany and other parts of Europe.
I sense an all-round ring of optimism about the India story powered by the leadership of Modi.
In 2024, the theme for TV9 Network annual signature IP – What India Thinks Today – where the Prime Minister delivered the Summit Keynote address was “India: Poised for the Next Big Leap.”
The current sentiment about India and Modi’s decisive leadership is possibly even stronger now, given the upheaval all around the world marred with wars – both in battlefield and trade tariffs.
India is actually poised for the next big leap notwithstanding the global headwinds.
In my opening remarks welcoming the Prime Minister at that Summit in 2024, I said, “Modi ji, you are not only the architect of a New India, but also someone who wishes to lay the foundation for the next one thousand years.”
I had gone on to talk about my three Modi Mantras.
Return on Governance – as exhibited by Prime Minister Modi who made good governance a way of being not just for himself but for everyone else in our sphere.
The Modi Multiplier- which is about designing policies in a manner wherein each policy compounds the effect of the others.
CDR – Citizen DNA Reset – instilling confidence in every Indian from “Can We?” to “We Can” to now “We Will!”
These mantras are timeless . They are relevant and all pervasive even today as we celebrate the 75th Birth Anniversary of Prime Minister Modi.
Personally, I don’t believe in celebration of birthdays on any particular day. I don’t think even the Prime Minister’s day today would be any different for him.
I often say that when a large ship is sailing at a very high speed, then even the minutest chink may cause havoc to the ship. Here Modiji is trying to steer the largest democracy of the world, the 4th largest and fastest growing major economy, and the concerns and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians – all at a time when not only external but even internal forces are only too keen to create chinks in this large ship called India.
Under the Prime Minister’s leadership, India is assertive without being aggressive. Modi’s message to the world is loud and clear. That the new India is neither aligned nor non-aligned. Modi’s unique template that mandates progress and development need not be a zero-sum game has been the guiding force leading to unprecedented bonhomie in the global arena.
Modiji has been liberal with his return gifts to the nation – his unflinching dedication to ‘India First.’
My gift to Prime Minister Modi on his 75th birthday is not offered only today. I am living everyday by commitment to ‘India First.’ I am a professional and for a professional, you are what you do. So I focus on my work at hand relentlessly, trying to find a voice for the India narrative on the world stage. The News9 Global Summits are TV9 Network’s prelude to that vision.
It is time to sink all differences and stand with the ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ goal.