That Narendra Modi is an old hand in coming up with catchy acronyms and phrases is well-known to people in India now. This penchant of his was once again on display recently during his trip to the US. After his meeting with the freshly minted President Donald Trump, he said,
“Americans are familiar with President Trump’s motto, Make America Great Again, or “MAGA.” The people of India are also moving towards development at a fast pace with the determination of “Viksit Bharat 2047” on the track of heritage and development.
If I say in the language of America, developed India means Make India Great Again, i.e. “MIGA”. When the United States and India work together, i.e. “MAGA” plus “MIGA”, the “MEGA” Partnership for prosperity is formed. And this mega spirit gives new scale and scope to our goals.”
Even the Americans who consider themselves marketing mavens must have been impressed, I guess. This must take the cake for being the “Quote of the Decade”, in my opinion.
Beyond the headlines and the traction these quotes and slogans get on social media, what is of course important is how plans to execute these goals are executed on the ground. I am reminded of an old joke which never goes out of currency in this context. A politician is invited to an event where he is asked to plant a sapling. When the politician is about to do that at a particular place, the host tells him to plant it slightly ahead because that’s the place where the sapling is usually planted every year! Most of the political programmes in India have been like this in the past. To Modi’s credit, today every programme comes with a target and the timeframe by which the same would be achieved. That the timelines get pushed back is another matter.
This is where I was interested to know what Viksit Bharat really entails. While it is easy to understand the meaning that the goal is to make India a ‘Developed” nation by 2047, how do you define “Developed”? In this year’s budget, the finance minister said that Viksit Bharat 2047 is the government’s vision to transform the country into a self-reliant and prosperous economy by 2047. Economic growth, technological upgradation, infrastructure development, social empowerment, and sustainability are the criteria of this programme, she added. While these criteria make sense, the targets for the same have not yet been indicated anywhere or I couldn’t locate the same in my research effort.
In the context of clarity in goal setting, the other flagship of Modi Sarkar – Swachh Bharat Abhiyan comes to my mind. What started as a program to make India clean, gradually morphed into a programme for the elimination of open defecation and construction of public toilets across the country. With a focused team under Parameswaran Iyer to drive this program, while India was declared Open Defecation free in 2019 and over 100 million toilets were built, the moot question remains whether India in 2025 is any cleaner than what it was in 2014 when Swachh Bharat campaign was kicked off. Of course, I have repeatedly argued in the past that if public spaces in India continue to remain filthy it is a reflection of “We the People” more than the government.
It is not the first time that we have a “Vision” for the country. Late President Abdul Kalam used to always talk about his vision for a developed India at every opportunity by way of a Vision 2020 presentation. In fact, as early as 1998, he authored a book titled – “India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium” where he outlined a plan to transform India into an economically developed country by 2020! Sounds familiar??? One could argue that this Vision was not an official one from the Government of the day but that of a well-intentioned individual who went on to occupy the topmost chair in the country.
With Viksit Bharat, the government has officially put out its vision which in itself is commendable as a first step. It has also solicited ideas from one and all for making India Viksit. I hope soon the government will come up with a clear document that outlines the goals under different areas that will make India a developed nation. And we make progress so that the generations after 2050 don’t have to see the same vision statement of a “Developed India”.
I say this because back in 1980, Ronald Raegan had used the slogan – “Let’s make America Great Again” in his presidential campaign. The wheel has only become a full circle now. “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) was Trump’s theme for his 1st presidential campaign back in 2016 with which he managed to win and become the President. After he lost in 2020, he came back with the same theme in 2024 and has now become the President for the 2nd term. So, “MAGA” has made two Presidents win!
Trump seems more resolute this time in executing whatever he has promised to his loyal MAGA community. The past few weeks ever since Trump took over have seen a frenzy of activity in terms of executive orders that have been quaking not just America but the world. The implications of these executive orders notwithstanding, one cannot fault his intent and bias for action as far as executing his promises are concerned.
I do wish for such a sense of urgency and bias for action in India in setting the goals for Viksit Bharat and going about achieving them now that the Modi Sarkar is firmly in the saddle for a third term and the setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are behind it with the handsome wins in the state elections of Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi.
Postscript: I just learnt that MAAGA in Tamil means the Sky. MIGA in Tamil means More. MEGA means of course Big. So whichever way you look at it, all these slogans have only positive affirmations relating to being expansive, big and more. Time to MIGA!
Pic credit: Public TV English
