Unstoppable

Deepak Dwivedi & AK Sharma

The year 2022 saw India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guardianship making giant strides. There is no stopping its triumphant march 2023 onwards.

In the international arena, India emerged as the world’s fastest-growing economy amidst global recession. The country assumed presidency of G20, the grouping of the world’s top economies, and will be the pivot of their decision-making in 2023. Within the country, the year 2022 saw the ruling BJP win one state Assembly election after another – starting with back-to-back historic wins in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and topping with creating a new record in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, towards the end of the year.

This seems to set the trend for state elections due in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in 2023 and national elections, subsequently, in 2024, which is set to mark the return of Modi as the PM for a third term.

Covid-19 preparedness

Even as a dark shadow hovers over other countries following the sinister resurgence of Covid-19 in China, India appears to be best prepared to deal with the threat. It has not only fully inoculated a majority of its people, but also supplied vaccines and medicines to other countries. In fact, PM Modi’s deft handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has won applause from around the world.

As PM Modi said in the latest edition his Mann Ki Baat, the year 2022 was a year of many milestones for India. It saw India attaining the status of the world’s fifth-largest economy. While India’s status as an economic power is bound to grow in the years to come, the country is also on the path of having a greater say in global affairs on issues like food security, energy security, climate change and upholding of the rule-based international order.

However, the principle focus of the New India under PM Modi’s guardianship remains the last man in the line. This is illustrated by a slew of welfare schemes launched by the Modi Government in the past over eight years.

That this commitment to the common man is PM Modi’s top priority is also shown by his Government’s recent decision to provide free foodgrain to every Indian covered by the National Food Security Act, throughout the year 2023.

It is this concern for the people that has made them vote for the BJP led by PM Modi in almost all electoral battles since 2019 when they returned the party to power at the Centre. The BJP is not only expanding its footprint all over India, but its vote share is constantly on the rise. In sharp contrast, its political opponents are in utter disarray