Palki Sharma | This House Believes That Modi’s India is on the Right Path | 3/8

foreign [Music] thank you MrPresident namaskar and good evening to all of you we're debating India's path tonight and I could wrap my argument in one sentence borrowed from the White House go to New Delhi and see it for yourself but I've been given more time than that so I will tell you what I see earlier this week I was on my way to the Delhi Airport there was a lot of traffic at one point the car stopped on the roadside I saw two vendors one was selling fruit the other was selling coconut water what caught my attention was not what they were selling but how they were selling it both had a QR code prominently displayed and every single customer walked up to them scanned this QR code and paid for their purchase every single one of them to me this is a picture of today's India it shows three developments three of the many developments I shall list out tonight number one is financial inclusion both the vendors had a bank account linked to their mobile phone number two is internet or mobile penetration what we call digital India it was 15 percent nine years back it's 48 today and number three is the airport traffic it just keeps swelling even though we are at the receiving end we see what it shows from 67 million nine years back to almost double now to me these things signify the paths that India is on the previous speakers have defined the motion well but in case the evening drinks have kicked in let me repeat this house believes modi's India is on the right path and how do you determine if the path is right or wrong you look at numbers data surveys reports I shall refer to all of these as I make my arguments but I also want to dwell on something that's more personal more important I think yet unquantifiable I'm talking about the experience of living in today's India I have lived in many indias the very India were exciting policies and positions were abandoned the self-doubting India where decisions were taken based on global opinion and today a more confident India where the world comes for leadership and inspiration you cannot put a premium on that Indians are more prosperous at home and hence more confident abroad let me also tell you what I saw at the airport here in London at the immigration counter I saw Indians proudly flaunting their passport none of the fidgeting or self-doubt of the last century and if I may add the immigration officer almost looked impressed she was either a fan of India or just worried that she was holding up one of Rishi sunak's relatives we are proud of what we share with the world Bollywood Masala chai yoga Cricket India Today is a soft power Giant at the same time India is not a timid democracy that tolerates terrorism or betrayals when Pakistani terrorists attacked Kashmir spulvama India carried out surgical strikes on balakot today's India is not a pushover country it's a world power denied today invasions in colonialism are part of our history not our identity we are shaped by years of subjugation not defined by them we are excited about our Global responsibilities not wary of them this change in confidence comes from growth at home which brings me to the numbers I'll start with India's welfare state system and how it has fared in the past decade 110 million new gas connections 470 million bank accounts 220 million insurance beneficiaries and to be fair the welfare concept is not new to India it's been there for a while what's new is the approach it's not just about putting more money in the pocket it's about empowering people and the result once again the evidence shows in the numbers India's per capita income has gone from 86 000 rupees in 2014 to 172 000 rupees now it has doubled and a big reason for that is the falling inflation from more than eight percent nine years back to less than six percent today and this ladies and gentlemen is in the middle of a global cost of living crisis foreign direct investment is at its highest level foreign trade is at its highest level the growth Mantra is connectivity and I don't have to tell the British that first thing you did in your colonies was build roads and railways our growth story has been about two indias the urban India the bustling Urban India and a sluggish rural India today we are trying to connect the two we are building more than 38 kilometers of Highway every day which is 50 more than what it was seven years ago the number of airports has doubled since 2014 the total capacity at seaports has doubled this connectivity is what what is driving India forward you mentioned GST our constitution calls India a union of all states which is a great tribute to our diversity but it also meant 28 different state economies different taxes different Trade Practices this Government tried to unify it to create a single Indian market it took time but the result is this today tax collection is at its highest ever the number of taxpayers has doubled since 2017. I have a lot of data I could go on but you get the drift so now I'm going to talk about India's Global position because your path is also about your role in the world are you a troublemaker or a consensus Builder I think there is no doubt as to where India stands India is a member of the quad and the SEO India is invited to the G7 but is also a member of the brics India are up shoulders with the west but also leads the global South which other country can claim to juggle these roles and how does India do it because we are not trying to pay an outsized role in the world we are trying to play the right role in the Russia Ukraine war India has not taken sides and I Know It confuses a lot of people here but back home the thinking is very clear it is not in our national interest to pick sides and make things worse India has excellent relations with Russia and the west and we want to preserve that it's like when your two good friends fight do you pick sides and make things worse or do you try to talk sense to them and Bridge The Divide I know what a good friend would do I see what India is doing India has always been or always tried to be a part of the solution not the problem look at our neighborhood policy when Sri Lanka was sinking India provided assistance worth four billion dollars no strings attached no grudges held for Columbus proximity with China a lot of people say that India is losing control of of South Asia I say south Asia was never India's to control New Delhi is building relations based on mutual respect and equality and the results show Beyond government interactions countries like Nepal and Bhutan are using India's online payment systems students from the neighborhood come to India for training grants and scholarships this government has aced what we call Buddhist diplomacy it is leveraging India's position as a cradle of Buddhism all these initiatives have made India popular the world stands with us against Chinese expansionism the global South looks up to us for leadership the global North looks up to us for partnership I think that's the Hallmark of great diplomacy and state craft when you're loved and respected in all quarters more importantly when you're trusted in all quarters India repaid that trust during the covid-19 pandemic when the world forgot about morals and globalization India sent 24 crore vaccines to 100 countries and you saw the result of that in Papua New Guinea when Prime Minister Modi landed there their prime minister touched his feet this was not a personal gesture to a leader this was a vote of thanks to the entire country let's talk about domestic affairs Kashmir was brought up this government abrogated article 370. today kashmir's economy is doing much better 1.

8 crore tourists visited the valley in the last year that's the highest ever in Indian history 1. 8 crore Kashmir is getting its first ever foreign direct investment and that too from a company in the UAE but since this is Kashmir let's not limit ourselves to finances let's talk about security Terror attacks in the valley have almost halved in the last few years the numbers are staring in your face security is better economy is better Kashmir is better plus we have corrected a historical wrong imposed on India let me also address something else that was raised by the opposite side and that is religious intolerance it's easy to quote anecdotal evidence and paint an entire country as intolerant but random elements and sporadic incidents do not speak for India or its leadership or its government only policies do and I'll tell you about those policies more Muslim Students got Scholarships in modi's first term than the previous government I'm talking about two million more Muslim Students if the idea was to marginalize them why give them more scholarships look at the government's Hajj policy Prime Minister Modi held personal talks with the Saudi regime to increase India's Hajj quota in 2014 it was a hundred and thirty six thousand by 2019 it was more than two hundred thousand again if the idea was to marginalize Muslims why increase the Hajj quota this government abolished triple talaq would you call it reform or repression let me also tell you what a Pew study found in 2021 it runs counter to every argument that will be made here tonight it found that 89 of all Muslims and Christians in India say they're free to practice their religion I'll repeat 89 of all surveyed Muslims and Christians but no let's build on perceptions and anecdotes not on facts I would also point you to all the social schemes the bank accounts the gas connections the insurance policies they're available to all citizens of all religions does that mean India cannot do better absolutely not even one incident of marginalization is one too many but how would you judge an entire country's path in fact it struck me when I was invited for this event why would Oxford University be interested in debating the path of modi's India because India has defied Western predictions it's the world's largest democracy charting its own course India today has shed the burden of trying to comply with Western constructs no amount of lecturing or virtue signaling is shaking India's confidence and that is what unsettles critics there are hit and run experts with no accountability who make pronouncements based on their political leanings to create an anti-india narrative GDP growth won't touch five percent there was corruption in the rafale deal the government was snooping in opposition parties using Pegasus all of these make for juicy headlines and they make it look like everything is wrong in India but when a Supreme Court investigation finds no wrongdoing when India's growth crosses seven percent who is questioning these experts when an 85 Hindu majority Karnataka votes out the BJP is the Western lording India's secular credentials you see to judge a country's path you have to be able to separate a gender driven narrative from facts in conclusion let me say this for any country in the world there is always a wrong path enough dictators and autocrats have shown us but there is no single right path Britain has its own right path India has its own right path as long as democracy is respected as long as the Constitution is respected I would say to each their own it is wrong to judge one country on the parameters of another and that has been the beauty of India since 2014. we've uplifted 140 million people out of poverty we did so while conducting free and fair elections dozens of them we did so while protesting debating and dissenting and finally I think the Hallmark of of a right direction is also public approval do the people think you're on the right path the people of India answered that question in 2019.