India is making every effort to create an indigenous outlook for the country and to break free from its colonial shackles. It is attempting to reinvent itself to emerge from its dark days while preserving its historical significance.
In short, Prime Minister Modi is trying to give a new outlook to India.
The prime objective is to project a sophisticated image as a giant in every aspect and to the very letter of the word, while assuming a preeminent role in the South Asian region. It has already undertaken a notable task in the international political landscape, with new vistas on the horizon.
Prime Minister Modi’s one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin provides ample testimony for this.
Besides, India has made remarkable progress in economic development by surpassing its colonial master, the United Kingdom. Recent IMF figures indicated that India has displaced the United Kingdom to sixth place in the world ranking, which must be an exhilarating experience and occasion for India. The Modi government had made it possible through sheer dedication. And it is now gradually moving away from its colonial bondages one by one.
Meanwhile, India also made a giant leap forward in maritime security in the Indian Ocean region after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned the first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, in Kochi on Friday.
On the sidelines of the ceremony to commission it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also unveiled the new naval ensign and the flag of the Indian Navy.
The new naval ensign replaced the Saint Georges Cross in the centre, which indicated the age-old association Indian naval forces had with the United Kingdom.
The Indian Navy crest is now on a navy–blue background enclosed in an octagon,representing the royal seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who built a strong navy to secure maritime borders with his foresight.
The first change to the Indian Navy Ensign occurred in the post-independence era in 1950, when the distinctive tri-colour identity of India was inserted and displayed in the upper left corner of the crest.
Following the commissioning of INS Vikrant, meaning courageous, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the carrier a floating city and a symbol of indigenous potential.
During his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Modi made it clear that there was a need to de–colonise India.
While calling for de–colonisation, he even urged everyone to look for traces of slavery around them so that the nation could eliminate it.
After this vitally important observation for Indians, the New Delhi Municipality took steps towards it.
Quite recently, the New Delhi Municipal Council in a special meeting passed a resolution to rename Rajpath and Central Vista lawns as “Kartavya Path.”
“In accordance with the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, the chairperson agreed to rename the existing Rajpath and Central Vista lawns as Kartavya Path,” another step toward enshrining a people’s era in the country and giving new dimensions to Indian democracy.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the renamed Rajpath.
Referring to the renaming of the iconic stretch, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi said the name “Rajpath” reflected a colonial legacy, which had to be done away with since “we are living in a democratic system after Independence”.
“The word Rajpath sounds like the idea of ruling over others, but Kartavya Path inspires us to fulfil our duties towards the nation, society, family, and all people without any discrimination. Many bureaucrats and people in these offices are dedicated to working for the public. Lekhi, quoting the fundamental duties under the Indian constitution, said: “These are inspirations for the preservation of our rich heritage and composite culture.”
Rajpath was earlier known as “Kings Way” and Janpath as “Queensway”. Queensway was renamed Janpath, while Kingsway was only translated into Hindi as “Rajpath” in the 1950s.
A request for the renaming of Rajpath and Central Vista lawns was received by the Delhi Municipal Council from the ministry of housing and urban affairs on September 1.
“It was decided that Rajpath needed to be changed with the values and principles of democracy. We also passed the minutes of the meeting considering it was a single proposal and the decision came into effect immediately, “said Delhi Council’s vice-chairperson Satish Upadhyay.
The renaming of Rajpath strangely coincided with the death of Queen Elizabeth, the British monarch on September 8.
In its colonial legacy, India came to be known as the jewel of the British crown.
More than anything, the unveiling of the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the India Gate bore historical significance.
Subhas Chandra Bose, byname Netaji (Hindi: “Respected Leader”), (born January 23, 1897, Cuttack, Orissa [now Odisha], India—died August 18, 1945, Taipei, Taiwan), was an Indian revolutionary prominent in the independence movement against British India. He also led an Indian national force from abroad against western powers during World War II. He was a contemporary of Mohandas K. Gandhi, at times an ally, at other times an adversary. Bose was known in particular for his militant approach to independence and for his push for socialist policies.
The son of a wealthy and prominent Bengali lawyer, Bose studied at Presidency College, Calcutta (Kolkata), from which he was expelled in 1916 for nationalist activities, and the Scottish Churches College from where he graduated in 1919. He was then sent by his parents to the University of Cambridge in England to prepare for the Indian Civil Service. In 1920, he passed the civil service examination, but in April 1921, after hearing of the nationalist movement in India, he resigned his candidacy and hurried back to India. Throughout his career, especially in its early stages, he was supported financially and emotionally by his elder brother, Sarat Chandra Bose (1889–1950), a wealthy Calcutta lawyer and Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party) politician.
Subash Chandra Bose was an iconic figure in the Indian freedom struggle, but what confuses the average moderate Indian is whether Modi’s India is trying to push the legacy of the Indian Congress of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister, to political oblivion and, at the same time, has thrown Mahatma Gandhi out of the limelight.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s black granite statue has been carved from a monolithic block of granite weighing 280 metric tons.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week unveiled a 28-foot-tall statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate. The Culture Ministry said on Wednesday that a team of sculptors spent 26,000 man-hours of “intense artistic endeavour” to carve the grand statue.
About 150 meters east of India Gate, in the centre of the C-hexagon, is a 73-foot canopy, which is inspired by the 6th century mandapa at Mahabalipuram. The canopy was added to the India Gate complex in 1936 to pay tribute to then British King George V, and a 50-foot-tall marble statue was placed beneath it.
The image is shown in George V’s coronation robes and Imperial State Crown. Sergeant Charles Jagger was commissioned to create the statue. He was a well-known sculptor of war memorials. His work has spread across the world, including Britain. However, the grand canopy and the installation of the statue were completed only a few years after Jagger’s death.
After independence, there was widespread opposition to the statue of George V because it was at the very centre of the country’s capital. Nevertheless, it remained in place for another two decades. Later, George’s statue was moved to Coronation Park near the Interstate Bus Terminus at Yamuna in North Delhi in 1968.
The statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has occupied the canopy, which had been empty since 1968. There were suggestions from time to time to install the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi following her assassination in 1984.
Eventually, however, an iconic figure of modern India filled the void.
The statue is part of the Centre’s Rs 13,450-crore Central Vista project, which will have a new parliament building, new office and residences for the prime minister and vice-president and new ministry buildings. The north and south blocks, the secretariat buildings flanking the presidential palace, and the Rashtrapati Bhavan, will be converted into museums.
PM Modi also inaugurated the newly-christened Kartavya Path—a stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate that will have red granite walkways with greenery all around, refurbished canals, state-wise food stalls, new amenity blocks, and vending kiosks.
According to the government, it symbolises a shift from the erstwhile Rajpath being an icon of power to Kartavya Path being an example of public ownership and empowerment.
The entire stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate has been revamped under the Modi government’s ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project.
The programme was designed to showcase the spirit of Ek Bharat-Shrestha Bharat and unity in diversity. A cultural festival with 500 dancers drawn from all parts of the country was showcased on the ‘Kartvya Path’.
In a statement, the prime minister’s office said that over the years, Rajpath and adjoining areas of the Central Vista Avenue have been witnessing the increasing pressure of visitorswhich has put stress on their infrastructure.
It lacked basic amenities. A need was also felt to organise the Republic Day parade and other national events in a less disruptive manner with minimal restrictions on public movement.
The redevelopment project of the Central Vista—the nation’s power corridor—envisions a new triangular parliament building, a common central secretariat, revamping the three-kilometer Rajpath, a new prime minister’s residence and office, and a new vice-president’s enclave.
Besides, India now has a Prime Minister’s Museum. The Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya(Prime Ministers’gallery) is a museum that celebrates all former Prime Ministers.
It is located on the Teen Murti Estate, which is India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru’s former residence. The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library was set up in his memory on its premises as an autonomous institution under the Union Culture Ministry. On April 14, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya.
There are 43 galleries in the museum. It has displays that show the lives and tenures of former Prime Ministers. The families of former PMs were invited to the inauguration. But former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi didn’t attend the ceremony.
Ever since the proposal for this museum was approved in 2018, the Congress has opposed this initiative.
They called it an attempt to dilute the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru.
But the centre has maintained that the move was not to undermine the legacy of the first PM.
The museum building integrates the Teen Murti Bhawan with the newly-constructed Block II.
The total area of the two blocks is over 15,600 square metres. It was built at a cost of 306 crore and can hold about 4,000 visitors.
The Sangrahalaya offers light and sound shows along with interactive experiences like holograms, virtual reality, augmented reality and more.
The museum also displays former Prime Ministers’ personal items, gifts and memorabilia like medals or commemorative stamps. The items and anecdotes have been provided by their families.
In his younger days, Nehru, whom Gandhi once affectionately called “our Englishman,” was a believer in the ‘freedom at all costs’ philosophy. He had disagreements with Gandhi when the latter insisted on the purity of both means and ends. As the freedom movement reached its goal, Nehru included partition as one of the costs. He tried to give a philosophical twist to it in a speech in August 1947, saying “division is better than a union of unwilling hearts”. He also claimed that “great events were underway” and some of that greatness fell on men like him and Jinnah. So did the other leaders, the “tired old men, hungry for power,” as Ram Manohar Lohia put it.
In 1956, Nehru told Michael Brecher, his biographer, that the Congress leadership agreed to partition because they found that to be the only solution to end violence. They were also not agreeable to the Cabinet mission plan, which could have ensured a united India but left the central government weak. In 1960, he confessed to British journalist Leonard Mosley that they were “tired of arguing with Jinnah and considered that partition was most likely to be a temporary arrangement”.
Gandhi was a shattered man when partition was announced. “My life’s work seems to be over. He bemoaned, pleading in agony, “I shall perhaps not be alive to witness it, but should the evil I apprehended overtake India and her Independence be imperiled, let posterity know what agony this old soul went through thinking of it. “Let it not be said that Gandhi was a party to India’s vivisection.”
Partition took place against the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi, but it saved Nehru’s Congress from a lot of trouble, and in the modern day, India is taking giant strides to project herself as a world power. The rest of the world, especially the nations in the region, should take cognizance of the changing face and role of India.
At the same time, India hopes to take over the leadership of the G20 countries on November 20, taking another significant step forward. In 1999, against the backdrop of the financial crisis later in 1990 that affected East Asia and Southeast Asia, the G20 was established. Middle-income nations were encouraged to participate to ensure global financial stability. The G20 countries collectively account for 60% of the global population, 80% of global GDP, and 75% of worldwide commerce.
Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the EU are some of its permanent members. Spain also participates as a frequent visitor.
Every year, members of the G20 rotate holding the presidency, and the country currently holding the presidency, along with the prior and following presidency holder, constitute the “troika” to assure continuity. Italy, Indonesia, and India are the current Troika countries.
The 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in November in Bali. After Indonesia, India will assume the presidency of the G20 from December 2022.
The G20 has no permanent secretariat. The G20 representatives, referred to as “Sherpas,” collaborate with the finance ministers and central bank governors to coordinate the timetable and activities.
Meanwhile, India is keen to hold the 2023 summit in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up a five-member high-level committee for overall coordination of G20 meetings to be held in the Union Territory.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is the Sherpa representing India at the G20 in September 2021. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India will hold the G-20 presidency from December 1, 2022 and convene the first G20 summit in 2023.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, was also an opportunity for India to project itself as a world power. The words of India’s Prime Minister to the Russian President that this is not an era of war, have taken India’s reputation to the highest level among world leaders.
(With contributions from Indian media)