On the Prime Minister’s birthday, Why India needs Modi

I have had the privilege of knowing Honourable Prime Minister Modi for almost 27 years now.

Towards the start of my career as a field reporter, when I had just moved to Delhi from my days in Calcutta, I used to cover the BJP among other beats for NDTV. It was about the late 1990s, and the Honourable Prime Minister was then General Secretary of the party. I would often be reaching out for soundbytes on the stories that I was covering and with classic grace, Narendra Modi would always oblige.

What struck me, from the very start, was the outright simplicity of the Honourable Prime Minister. I recall his then-Delhi residence -- a shared modest room, two simple beds, with no ornate or flashy displays. He lived right behind what was then the BJP Office at 11 Ashoka Road in Delhi. During one of my visits to his residence for a reporting assignment, while he spoke, he meticulously ironed his own clothes-- something he seemed very particular about. What stayed with me was that he had very few personal possessions and desires -- the room largely bare -- a stark absence of any excesses.

On another occasion, I was presented an opportunity to anchor a primetime show as a substitute anchor. It was a big moment for me. The subject of the show was on the then ongoing events in Kashmir, which was wrestling with the crest of Separatism. I reached out to Narendra Modi with a request to be on the show, and he graciously immediately obliged.

Through the moments of that show as he went hammer and tongs against the pro-Separatist guests, his sharpness in words, his conviction in argument and his clarity of thought for what ought to be the way forward in Kashmir thundered through -- an instinct that has eventually moulded the successful integration of the valley into Bharat, as it were destined to be during his tenure as Prime Minister.

Between then and now, a decade and a half to two have elapsed. I have been fortunate to have had many interactions through the years in different phases of my life and career. He has obliged Republic’s invitations to every Annual Summit, including its first for which the Honourable Prime Minister travelled to Mumbai from New Delhi.

While recounting all of the memories here is difficult, the 2014 Election Campaign interview is a moment that lingers with me to date.

It was the second week of May in 2014, at the very end of what was then termed as India’s biggest election Campaign. The decade of the UPA was nearing its end, as it was battling a BJP electoral campaign of the nature and scale that India had not witnessed till that moment -- 3D rallies, pincer focus on matters of corruption and national security, the use of social media and digital tools and an all-out approach in terms of ground and door-to-door campaigns.

From our then newsroom in Mumbai, I reached Gandhinagar -- unsure till the last moment if I was going to get the interview of the man who by then was projected to sweep the General Elections of 2014 with surety and in unprecedented numbers. I was given a very early morning slot, and my interview was scheduled as the last interview on Narendra Modi’s campaign trail. It was the interview in which the Honourable Prime Minister articulated his policy on Pakistan with outright clarity. He said, “bam bandook aur pistol ki awaz mein baat cheet nahi ho sakti hai”. Right through his terms in Delhi and even post Operation Sindoor, when the Prime Minister spoke, his policy on Pakistan terror was as firm and consistent as it was then.

I asked the Prime Minister at the end of that 2014 interview when the cameras went off, why I was slotted at the very end of his electoral campaign. And he told me, “your 2014 election coverage started with the interview of one particular leader, and I thought that it should end with mine.” In that moment, it spoke so much to me about the deep political and strategic thinking of the Honourable Prime Minister’s mind.

Over the past few days, Republic has run a nationwide campaign-- #IndiaNeedsModi. It’s a campaign I am very proud of, because as India grows from an economy of $4 trillion to $10 trillion, there will be challenges along our way. There will be a fresh wave of the nature of challenges we face as a country, and fresh forces along the way. There will be friends who turn hindrances and more proxies that mushroom to try and become the spokes in Bharat’s growth story. And for those moments, Bharat needs a leadership that will guide it through to claim what it ought to become. 

Yesterday at the start of my show on #IndiaNeedsModi, I asked a question: what would the country be like without the decisive action, consistent reform and the growth driven governance that Narendra Modi has delivered over the last 11 years? We must, as a Nation irrespective of ideologies, pause to think.

We must reflect on what India would be like without an iron hand against the once flooded dirty cash economy and the resolve to go through with demonetisation; we must introspect on the transformation of the digital economy because of measures like the UPI; we must look upon our strides made on efforts like DBT and Defence production with pride; we must answer if it weren’t for the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Modi, would we have gone ahead with the Surgical Strikes, Balakot or Operation Sindoor. And through our collective reflections, we must realise that we must not take this path of growth for India for granted, because at the heart of it— at the very core— is pure leadership.

To face the challenges before us, what is required is the grit of a decisive leadership that does not compromise on Bharat’s terms. Over the last 11 years in New Delhi, the Honourable Prime Minister has been a swift decision maker, rolled India’s dice at the global table solidly on our terms, and displayed an unmatched ability and willingness to risk everything to put Nation First in every situation.

What’s as striking is that even through all the moments of strife-- whether it were during the pains of COVID-19 or it were vis-a-vis the detractors post the abrogation of 370 or it were interest groups back at it every few months before an election with their fake news campaigns against him-- the Honourable Prime Minister has held his own and proved his critics wrong. He has stood by the conviction of his governance and the robustness of his decisions. And that is a leadership that not just commits, but ensures that India rises through everything and despite everything.

As the Honourable Prime Minister celebrates his 75th birthday and is celebrated as one of the tallest leaders across the globe, I wish him a long and healthy life with the best of health.