India needs a strong Central Government to become a superpower. Pappuish PMs will simply not meet the bill.
While delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture at the National Media Centre Doval said India was ahead of China in the 70s and since it was now on the threshold of a great journey, the country needed a decisive government.
Ajit Doval said India needed a strong, stable and decisive government till 2030 and asserted that weak coalitions would be bad for India.
“India’s economy is one of the largest in the world. The international community recognises India as one of the fastest growing economies. We need a decisive government; weak coalitions will be bad for India,” he said.
“Weakened democracies can make a country a soft power. India cannot afford to be a soft power for the next few years,” the NSA said.
“If a country becomes a soft power, then it has to make compromises. And if you have to make compromises, then your political survival takes precedence over national interest,” he added.
Doval said the current government has ensured that all defence hardware are 100% transfer of technology. He also urged the private sector to perform and promote India’s strategic interest.
Giving an example of the Chinese multinational conglomerate Alibaba, Doval added that the reason behind its success was the constant support it received from the Chinese government.
“See how China’s Alibaba and others have become big companies, how much support they have received from the Chinese government. We want the Indian private sector companies to perform and promote Indian strategic interest.”
Doval said: “For India to become a major power, our economy has to be big, it has to be competitive. It can only happen if we advance technologically,” he said, praising the Modi government’s digital initiatives.
“Government’s digitisation initiative is a big game-changer,” Doval said, but warned that false narratives can lead to tensions.
He said that in the past four years, the country’s “national will” has been aroused. “Democracy is India’s strength, it needs to be preserved… The populist measures shouldn’t take precedence over national requirements,” Doval added.
