- Prime Minister Modi revisited his 2013 SRCC speech about the glass being full with water and air
- He contrasted India’s 2013 challenges with current growth amid global crisis and policy changes
- Modi cited 7.8% Q1 GDP growth and rising vehicle sales as signs of India’s fast economic progress
Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to his analogy about what fills a glass that seems half empty, as he returned to Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce on Saturday evening, 13 years after a speech at the same place became the launchpad for his projection as the BJP's prime ministerial face.
"I gave the example of a glass of water, and spoke of three perspectives on it," Modi recalled at the SRCC centenary gathering. "That was the time when the country was facing a lot of negativity. At that time, I said I see the glass as full, with half water and half air."
The line he was recalling was delivered in February 2013, when he was chief minister of Gujarat. Holding up a glass of water then, he had said optimists would call it half full and pessimists half empty. "I am someone who sees a path different from both of those paths. I have a third way of thinking, that this glass is full, half with water and half with air," he had said.
Modi said the 2013 address was now being revisited widely: "The impact of that speech can be felt now as well. He added that even as he is from a party, BJP, that was in the Opposition at that time - Congress-led UPA was in power - he had not used the stage for criticism. "Whatever I said was with conviction, and I walked that path," he said.
"Growth On A High"
A large part of Saturday's speech was built as a contrast between the India of 2013 and the country's present position, plus the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat' or a "developed India" by 2047, when India will celebrate 100 years of Independence.
The SRCC visit comes at a time when PM Modi is more pointedly focusing on young Indians after a recent protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) brought Gen-Z issues front and centre in Indian politics. He's taken to using Instagram a lot more lately, just as he sought to speak to the youth via the SRCC lecture in 2013.
"If you go to the internet and watch the news around 2013, see what the headlines were," he said at SRCC on Saturday. "The headlines were like 'Army personnel killed at LoC', 'Inflation high at 10%', and about corruption."
He added, "Everywhere there was 'policy paralysis', and the world was counting us among the 'fragile five' (economies)," he said. "There was negativity and struggle. There were those days, and then there's the present time," he said.
He cited the latest quarterly growth data. "Just a few days back, the Q1 GDP numbers came out. This came at a time when there is a global crisis. And this clearly shows India's strength," Modi said. "Those who wanted to push India into the 'fragile five' are not able to digest these numbers." He listed vehicle sales among the markers of the shift. "Construction, manufacturing, and industrial activity have increased. That means India is not just growing but moving fast as well."
The 7.8 per cent first-quarter figure has been questioned by some economists and by Opposition leaders. Modi named no critic, describing them instead as "naraaz fufa-ji" (grumpy uncles) who "see only negativity". On security, he said: "Now, terrorism is at its end; and if they dare, then the army goes inside and ends them." India struck terror infrastructure across the border under Operation Sindoor last year.
Reacting to the speech, Congress MP and spokesperson Pawan Khera wrote in Hindi on X: "Such a boring speech that even onions would burst into tears!"
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar commented: "PM Modi spoke only of 2013 and 2047. He did not speak on issues of the students or the public at large."
12, 13, 100: Numbers Tell Story
Narendra Modi's two SRCC appearances are separated by the long arc of his national political career. In February 2013, he came to this college as chief minister of Gujarat, weeks into his fourth term in Gandhinagar and yet to be named his party's candidate for national office. He was in his 12th year as CM.
On Saturday he returned with 12 years as prime minister behind him, in his third consecutive term since 2014. Next month he completes 25 years as head of government, as CM or PM.
The 2013 address was titled 'Emerging Business Models in the Global Scenario', but it was not limited to business. It was a governance manifesto aimed squarely at young voters.
"I am concerned that a section of our society, and especially people in the political world, see the country's youth as merely 'new-age voters'," he had said then. "I want my country to accept that our youth are 'new-age power'."
Saturday's event fell on Teachers' Day. In 2013, speaking about an institute in Gujarat, Modi had said: "When a businessman goes abroad to export goods, he captures dollars and pounds. But when a teacher goes, they capture an entire generation."
Modi had met the SRCC governing body at his residence in April to mark the centenary and released a commemorative postage stamp for the occasion.
