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Viksit Bharat 2047 is a self-defeating slogan. PM Modi needs a new one

Whoever is writing PM Narendra Modi’s slogans and speeches nowadays is really tired of his job or has run out of original ideas.

On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed uninterrupted 25 years in power — as Gujarat chief minister and the country’s prime minister — he delivered an impassioned speech at the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Sabha in the national capital.

“Hum karke rahenge, we will do it,” he said, and got the gathering to chant: “top 3 economy, we will do it”; “atmanirbhar bharat, we will do it”; “global manufacturing hub, we will do it”; “antariksh mein kadam, we will do it”; and, “Vikshit Bharat by 2047, we will do it.”

The rhyme and rhythm of PM Modi’s “hum karke rahenge” slogan rang a bell. Remember then-Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar’s slogans upon his return to the campus from jail in that infamous sedition case in 2016 — “Hum kya chahate, aazaadi… hum le ke rahenge aazaadi…bhukhmari se aazaadi, punjiwaad se aazaadi…main bhi bolun, azaadi, tum bhi bolo, azaadi”.

It’s just that the Comrade-turned-Congressman can’t claim the copyright to the rhyme and rhythm. PM Modi’s”we will do it” slogan also sounded so similar to Barack Obama’s “yes, we can” campaign slogan in the 2008 US presidential elections.

Whoever is writing PM Modi’s slogans and speeches nowadays is really tired of his job or has run out of original ideas. Kanhaiya Kumar’s slogans resonated with his fellow Comrades on the JNU campus. And Obama’s slogan did become a rallying cry for the young Americans. But to expect the same, old slogans to endear PM Modi to students and the youth today is the height of desperation. Just as the visuals of a young lady in ripped jeans seated right next to PM Modi during ‘bhajan clubbing’ wouldn’t be enough to make him ‘cool’ among Gen Z.

Viksit Bharat, a problematic slogan

Having said that, the problem is not the borrowed rhyme or rhythm. The real problem lies in the Modi government’s principal slogan itself — Viksit Bharat 2047. A NITI Aayog approach paper said in July 2024: “To become a developed nation, we need to strive to be a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047 with a per capita income of USD 18,000 per annum….”

“The GDP would have to grow nine times from today’s USD 3.36 trillion and the per capita income would need to rise 8 times from today’s USD 2,392 per annum.”

India’s GDP was around $2 trillion in 2014 when PM Modi took over the country’s reins. In 2018, when the PM declared that India would be a $5 trillion economy by 2022, the annual GDP was $2.7 trillion. It’s estimated at $4.15 trillion today. Basically, India’s GDP has doubled in the last 12 years. Going by the NITI Aayog’s 2024 approach paper, it has to grow many times from today for India to become viksit or developed. A very, very tall ask, obviously. I am an incorrigible optimist. And it helps that I don’t understand economics.  

Why Gen Z can’t wait for Modi to deliver

Why is it that Gen Z doesn’t show the kind of optimism I have? After all, PM Modi is asking for only 21 years more to make India a developed country. Whether that happens or not is something that can be discussed only in 2047. Till then, trust his words. It’s about faith, not facts. He should probably listen to what then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had told the US Congress in 1985:........

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