Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Indian diaspora in Paris on Thursday that India is not just preparing for the future but shaping it [1].
The address serves as a strategic effort to position India as a reliable partner in global supply chains and geopolitics while strengthening ties with France [1, 2].
Modi said, "India is emerging as a trusted partner to the world" [2]. He framed this emergence through the lens of the country's domestic growth and its role as a stable actor on the international stage [2, 3].
Modi detailed several development markers from his 12-year tenure to illustrate this progress. He said the country's GDP has doubled during this period [1]. He also noted that the number of universities in India has doubled [1].
Infrastructure growth was a central theme of the speech. Modi said that highway construction has doubled [1] and the number of airports in India has doubled [1]. These metrics, he said, reflect a broader trend of national acceleration.
"Our development indicators have doubled in the last 12 years," Modi said [3]. He emphasized the potential of India's population of 1.4 billion people as a primary driver for this continued expansion [1].
Throughout the event, the Prime Minister linked these internal achievements to India's external credibility. By highlighting the scale of the country's infrastructure and economic growth, he aimed to present India as a capable and dependable global collaborator [2, 3].
“"India isn’t just preparing for the future, India is shaping the future."”
By emphasizing the doubling of GDP and infrastructure during his tenure, Modi is attempting to pivot India's image from a developing nation to a global leader. The focus on being a 'trusted partner' suggests a strategic move to attract foreign investment and security partnerships as an alternative to other regional powers, leveraging India's massive population and growing economic scale.
