Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a note penned on Saturday, while on his flight back to Delhi from Kanniyakumari, after a 45-hour meditation retreat, reflected that “Bharat’s development had a global context”, and that the time had arrived when, for the next 25 years, the country must dedicate itself to creating strong foundation for the coming generations.
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Meditating at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, where Swami Vivekananda had also done so and had envisioned the form of “Bharat Mata” or Mother India, Prime Minister Modi in his note titled New Sankalp from Sadhana (new resolutions from reflections), gave reference to the spiritual leader.
“Swami Vivekananda had said in 1897 that we must dedicate the next 50 years solely for the nation. Exactly 50 years after this call, Bharat gained independence in 1947. Today, we have the same golden opportunity. Let’s dedicate the next 25 years solely for the nation. Our efforts will create a strong foundation for the coming generations and the coming centuries, taking Bharat to new heights,” he wrote. He said that while he meditated in Kanniyakumari a spirit of detachment came over him and thoughts about the country and its future bubbled forth.
Writing about Kanniyakumari, he said that it symbolised the country’s unity as various rivers met with the sea and the seas met at Kanniyakumari. Referrencing the giant statue of Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar at the spot, he said that his work, the Thirukkural, was “one of the crown jewels of the beautiful Tamil language.”
He spoke at length about the lessons the country, as a cradle of ideas from ancient times, held for the world, guided by the spirit of “Idam-na-mama” or “this is not mine”. He noted that just as other countries that gained independence after India looked to its freedom movement as an inspiration, India was able to come to the aid of developed countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that at the current time, India’s development model had many lessons for others, lifting 25 crore people out of poverty, delivering welfare to the masses without leakage, universalisation of digital public goods were just some measures. He added that ever since the conclusion of the G-20 meet in New Delhi, India’s role had acquired a bigger dimension globally.
“We will need to make several changes to move forward in the global scenario. We also need to change our traditional thinking regarding reform. Bharat cannot limit reform to just economic reforms. We must move forward in every aspect of life towards the direction of reform. Our reforms should also align with the aspirations of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India) by 2047,” he wrote.
