Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Aug 15
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged Indians to abandon incremental ambitions and pursue what he called a “big dream” of transforming India into a developed nation by 2047, when the country marks 100 years of independence.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on India’s 80th Independence Day, Modi said India could no longer afford to move forward with small aspirations and called for firm national resolutions backed by greater capabilities.
“We can no longer move forward with small dreams. We must dream big, because big dreams expand our thinking,” Modi said.
He argued that ambitious goals and strong resolve could enable the country to overcome difficulties and disasters.
“Our resolutions must be firm,” he said, adding that strong determination creates the ability to find solutions even during crises.
Modi said India had set itself a major national objective: to become a developed country by 2047.
He said the goal would require the collective effort of 1.4 billion Indians.
The prime minister argued that when the world’s most populous country commits itself to becoming a developed nation, the decision itself changes how the world views India.
He criticised what he described as an attitude of complacency in the decades following independence, saying India had often accepted that problems would eventually resolve themselves rather than pursuing change with sufficient urgency.
Modi said India had been placed among the “Fragile Five” economies by the international community in 2014 but argued that the country had gained new momentum over the following 12 years.
He said the determination and capabilities of India’s 1.4 billion people could no longer be stopped.
Referring to his earlier “Panch Pran”, or five pledges, Modi said the commitments had strengthened national confidence and helped India pursue its goals with greater self-belief.
He urged citizens to place the national interest above individual interests and make duty central to their identity.
“This is our time, this is our moment, and this is our resolve,” he said, calling on Indians to turn dreams into resolutions, resolutions into capabilities and capabilities into results.
“Let us together build a developed India,” Modi said.
