My Vision Of India

"I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards, the Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them

came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have

not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered

anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their

history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why?

Because we respect the freedom of others.

That is why my first vision is that of freedom. I believe

that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we

started the War of Independence. It is this freedom that

we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not

free, no one will respect us.

My second vision for India's development. For fifty years

we have been a developing nation. It is time we see

ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations

of the world in terms of GDP. We have a 10 percent growth

rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our

achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we

lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed

nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?