While watching the T20 World Cup semifinal cricket match between India and England with friends, on Thursday, it just struck us that while people in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait are stuck indoors fearing for their lives from missile and drone attacks by neighbouring Iran, we in India are discussing, who will emerge the winner of the match and probable finalists or the way we enjoyed Holi with traditional bhang and colours two days ago. The contrast is glaring! While we worry about Indian expatriates in the Gulf countries who are eager to return to India at the first opportunity, the myth of a safe and secure life in the Middle East is busted.
This article highlights a few portions of our intense discussions during the course of the match that India went on to win, triggering midnight celebrations all over the country. Though there were several different and opposing views, the conclusion that emerged unequivocally was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured India and insulated the Indian population from external as well as internal threats in the best possible way. The majority of the people in the country feel very safe under Modi’s rule, though stray bickering of the opposition leaders including the Muslim minority keep on making some noise against the government. Let me start with some interesting points that may sound juvenile to some readers, but please bear with me.
The delusion of safety created by the rich Arab rulers of the Middle East countries by outsourcing their security concerns to the USA, thinking that having American air and naval bases will guarantee their security, has been shattered with the ongoing US-Israel and Iran war. They are no longer safe under the US umbrella, punctured by a defiant Iran. In just one week, the vulnerability of the association of Islamic countries with 57 member states, called the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is exposed. The myth of a monolithic Muslim Umma has been demolished, and faultlines within them are exposed.
While US bases were bombarded with missiles, the concentration of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait became sitting ducks for target shooting even for elementary Shahed drones of Iran in the absence of a defence system. The Americans vacated their bases in time before attacking Iran and left the dependent Gulf countries to their fate. The poor fellows are now requesting the US to supply at least the interceptors’ missiles to safeguard their cities. But President Trump, true to himself, is busy boasting how best and biggest is US Military in the entire Milky Way galaxy in his tweets and daily press briefings when its F-15 fighter aircraft are falling from the sky like nine pins!
Look at the world today. Europe has been in the conflict for the last 4 years after the Ukraine-Russian war started that devastated its economy. UK is now facing music from its Muslim immigration population that will very soon turn it into an Islamic Republic with Sharia law in place. Pakistan has its own set of problems with Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Iran because of its double standards. While Pakistanis beg universally with folded hands they change their loyalties at the drop of a hat. Hired mercenaries. Bangladesh has been in total mess and caretaker Yunus destroyed its economy before leaving. Nepal saw the worst agitation by Gen Z who burnt down their Supreme Court to Parliament, now awaiting election results. Myanmar is in civil war. Sri Lanka’s economy is in doldrums. Cambodia and Vietnam are fighting wars on territorial disputes. South China sea is as usual with conflicts. In Japan every morning people wake up with sirens of the incoming or overflying missiles from North Korea. And now this US-Israel and Iran war that is pushing the world into existential and economic crisis of unimaginable levels.
In such a messed-up world where people are not sure of their safety and are worried of the economic crisis that is looming large in their faces, look at the situation in India. Our worries are of a different type. We are worried about whether Abhishek Sharma will perform in T20 World Cup finals or how Virat and Rohit will bid farewell after the ODI World Cup in 2027, or when Dhurandhar 2 is being released. This is possible because we feel secure in our country due to our homemade defence system, like Akashteer, that did not allow a single drone or loitering munitions to be fired from Pakistan into India during operation Sindoor. The Military modernisation in the last 11 years has increased our rocket force at an unprecedented level. The way missile production multiplied, and infantry modernisation happened from bulletproof vests to helmets to assault rifles to navigation systems to artillery to war ships aircrafts. A complete drone architecture was made, though we still need giga factories no doubt, but a lot has already been achieved. We feel so secure that the USA, Europe or China will not dare even to cast an eye on our borders. They know that India will hit back to the extent they would not have imagined, and that is why they indulge in troubling India through proxies.
PM Modi has secured India. He takes inspiration from our Vedic literature, like Dhanur and Yajurveda, that advocates the concept that maintaining peace requires strength, preparedness, and the ability to wage a righteous war (Dharma Yuddha). Even Romans believed, Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war). The Mahabharata to Ramayana advocate that all options should be explored before opting for a war. Thanks to the sound foreign policy of the Indian government based on this principle that we are the only country in the world where we have good relations with the West, Russia, Arab, Iran and Israel, Africa, and others. With China, we have made our red lines clear during Galwan incident, and they have now understood well. But the Chinese are Chinese, never to be believed. Cheene Hindi will never be bhai-bhai.
The incident of torpedoing an Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean by the US submarine points towards a conspiracy of President Trump to suck India into the war. All attempts of the West and particularly the US, to get India involved in regional conflicts have failed. The fact that India has become the 4th largest world economy is not digestible to them, and they want to derail our economy. They tried recently to poke India into a prolonged war with Bangladesh, Pakistan, and even the present war, but we did not fall prey to their design. We did a blitzkrieg with Pakistan by launching operation Sindoor, a limited war as our leaders are fully aware of the trap of a prolonged war. The stern message delivered to Pakistan changed the world’s attitude towards India. Everybody understood the change in India’s counter-terror response mechanism with a doctrinal shift from passive to a proactive policy of “Ghus ke marenge”. Balakot, Uri, and Sindoor operations are examples of this doctrine. No submission of dossier after dossier or campaign like Aman Ki Asha or approaching the toothless United Nations for intervention.
PM Modi understands that the real power comes from a sound economy. But in India, there are several challenges that he had to overcome. His persistent efforts made this journey fascinating, which is slowly making India an economic powerhouse. His policies are proving right time and again. Just recollect Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when Western countries wrote off India’s economy and predicted millions of deaths. Opposition leaders mocked the PM and his efforts to produce our Indian vaccine instead of importing from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. But he went ahead with the development of Indian Covaxin and gave to more than 100 crore people in India, along with free ration for 80 crores. There was not even a single hunger death. He did not stop there and extended the supply of our vaccine to African, Latin American, and other third-world countries, earning their appreciation. Don’t we have gratitude for such a noble gesture!! The world acknowledges Narendra Modi as the world’s most popular leader, bestowing on him their country’s highest honour.
Don’t forget this was the time when Galwan happened, and India had to deal with the twin problems of Covid and China. India’s economic growth fell to minus 23% in the first quarter of that year. But this did not deter him, and his tireless efforts brought India to a stage in 2026 where we grew by 7.8% in the last quarter in spite of tariff blackmail by the Trump administration. We are the only non-Western top 4 economy in the world that is growing at a rate of over 7% that made the IMF to comment that India is the only bright spot in the dark horizon.
Look at the PM Gati Shakti Yojana (National Master Plan), an ambitious infrastructure project worth over Rs 100 lakh crore to provide seamless connectivity, reduce logistics costs by integrating over 16 ministries, including railways, roads, ports, waterways, airports, mass transit and logistics. The sheer scale should baffle us. Ten years ago, we never imagined of trains like Vande Bharat that ply on more than 150 routes.
Earlier, for Indians, it was fate accompli that we are only a service sector economy. This changed with labour reforms, where Production Linked Incentive (PLI) in 15 critical sectors was identified, including semiconductors. Today we have the biggest manufacturing facility of Apple in India and plan to manufacture semiconductors and even assemble commercial planes. Trump termed the Indian economy as dead and advised the world not to invest in India. Ever ready to lap up any anti-Indian issue by a Whiteman, Rahul Gandhi, LoP in Parliament, tried to build a narrative against PM Modi, defaming India. Today, India has about 2000 GCCs (Global Capabilities Centres). Even in Artificial Intelligence (AI) a false narrative was spread by anti-Indian forces that India has only 38000 GPUs (Graphic Processing Units). In fact, India is already working with certain organisations to develop GPUs in India. By 2027-28, India will have more than 100,000 GPUs with investment from major companies like Reliance and Nvidia. We will see a revolution in semiconductors and GPUs very soon.
But to me, the greatest thing that happened is the democratisation of capitalism (DC). DC is allowing the masses to have access to microfinance. Earlier Capital was always restricted, and it was decided by a handful of people to whom it should be distributed. Now Mudra loan scheme provides more than 5 crore entrepreneurs with access to finance. While I agree that there are problems and challenges to overcome, we need to at least acknowledge the wonderful things that have happened in the last decade of Modi’s rule. People are coming back to India after working for years abroad.
I wrote this long article to sensitise our Gen Z of our achievements and tell them how lucky they are to be in India at this time when India is rising. They should not fall prey to the false narratives and propaganda of the anti-Indian forces within and outside the country, which includes the intellectually dwarf leftist and highly literate Urban Naxals, though Home Minister Amit Shah has wiped out Jungle Naxals, this breed is still thriving in our country.
I will conclude my article by informing you how we ended our discussions, post Indian victory over England. We sang the Kal Ho Na Ho movie song that conveys every Indian sentiment. The antra goes like this, Chaahe jo tumhe poore dil se, Milta hai who mushkil se, Aisa jo koi kahin hai, Bas vahi sabse hasin hai, Us haath ko tum thaam lo, Who meherbaan kal ho na ho. Let us strengthen and hold the hands of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the sake of our future generations.
Excellent analysis 👌
Excellent Chaddha Saab