With fuel prices in flux and wars on the horizon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his way to Surat to stand up for the Atmanirbhar Bharat drive and have a word with its naysayers. In a move to position the policy as a shield in rough times, he cautioned against the kind of pessimism he feels is short-changing the country’s resolve.
Resilience Messaging, With a Political Edge
The Prime Minister made the connection: be self-reliant or be dependent. He put it to those who make light of Atmanirbhar Bharat that their approach puts a lid on how far we can go and leaves us open to trouble when you need to be strong.
He didn’t let the opposition off the hook either. According to Modi, for 12 years the Congress has been after some political gain by sowing discord, and in places like Gujarat the electorate has put them where they belong. The same public mood, he said, is what led to a new chief minister in Karnataka.
Global Disruptions Frame the Pitch for Self-Reliance
Modi was back on a point he has made before: this is shaping up to be a decade of one thing after another. You have the pandemic, then the fighting in various parts of the world, an energy squeeze – all of it rattling the global economy.
Take the see-saw in petrol costs or the way gas supply lines have given way. But he made sure to note that with 140 crore people pulling together, we are not backing down from any of it.
Why this framing matters now
You could say Atmanirbhar Bharat is being sold as much for the outside chaos as for industry. It is also a way to put some steel in the public’s spine and put the kibosh on anyone who has doubts about what we can do on our own.
Surat-Daman Push: Big-Ticket Projects, Quick Timelines
It was as much of a development show-and-tell as anything. In Gujarat and Daman, Modi is set to get the ball rolling on projects running to some Rs 22,000 crore. In Surat alone, you will find over Rs 18,800 crore in the pipeline for roads, power and the like.
Then there is the matter of health. A 200-bed ESIC Hospital is coming to the city. Over in Daman, a 2,970-crore tab includes a new terminal for the NAMO Airport, which should be a step up for the Union Territory in terms of getting around.
To be clear on where the government stands, Modi tied it all to continuity and the ability to deliver. National progress is the name of the game, and the way the votes have come in shows the public is on board with that.
Defence Manufacturing Spotlight at L&T Hazira
Prior to his speech, there was a stop at the Larsen & Toubro plant in Surat. At the AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex, he put in some time to see the operations and the kind of work being done.
The Zorawar tank was the star of the show. Put together by DRDO and L&T Defence, the 25-tonne vehicle is built for speed, especially with an eye on the China border. It was a good way to put a face on the self-reliance talk with some home-grown hardware.
Key Claims and Immediate Takeaways
There was a call for unity in his address, along with a reminder of the headwinds out there. On the subject of keeping at it, he put it simply: we don’t have room for any let-up.
If you are following the policy and the politics, here is what you can make of it:
– Those who don’t like Atmanirbhar Bharat are seen as pessimists
– When the world is in a lurch over energy and war, you have to be self-reliant
– The projects on the table are proof we can get things done
– Making defence gear in India is no afterthought
What comes next
For now, the eyes are on the ground in Gujarat and Daman and on the likes of Zorawar to see if Make in India is living up to the hype. As for the opposition, the Prime Minister’s tone suggests he is in for the long haul in making self-reliance the standard by which we are judged.
He also brought up the way the rest of the world is looking at us and what has happened at the polls in Bengal, Assam and Puducherry. To him, it is a vindication of a focus on development. India is leaving the negativity behind for something more forward-looking.
Unveiling these projects while telling people to put aside their dependence on others is the story the government is writing. The question is whether these kinds of investments and the defence side of things will show up as hard numbers in the not too distant future.
