How France's Macron powers PM Modi’s 'Viksit Bharat' ambition
To say that India is going to be a developed country by 2047 is not a dream. It can be definitely achieved under the current circumstances and leadership.
The ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the biggest news event this week. In an emotional address after the grand consecration ceremony, the prime minister laid his vision of a developed, capable and divine India.
The Ayodhya Ram Mandir consecration took place just ahead of the Lok Sabha election, which is expected to be held in three months.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and France's President Emmanuel Macron talk during their visit to the Hawa Mahal. (AFP)
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
What can we expect?
After the ‘pran pratishtha’ in Ayodhya, it is evident that PM Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party as far as the general election is concerned. What we can see is the consolidation of Hindu votes on the basis of Ram Mandir, a revival of so-called cultural civilisation and that itself will be a force multiplier for the BJP and PM Modi. It will definitely add up to vote numbers. It is not sure how many seats will the party win.
What is the road ahead to achieve a developed India?
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
{{^usCountry}}
PM Modi will have to ensure that India becomes a manufacturing hub of the world. It is very important for India to have a full-fledged military-industrial corridor which will not only give impetus to manufacturing but also cut down our imports of high-end technology as well as defence platforms.
{{/usCountry}}
{{#usCountry}}
PM Modi will have to ensure that India becomes a manufacturing hub of the world. It is very important for India to have a full-fledged military-industrial corridor which will not only give impetus to manufacturing but also cut down our imports of high-end technology as well as defence platforms.
{{/usCountry}}
French president Emmanuel Macron arrived in India on Thursday a day before 75th Republic Day celebrations. Macron, who is the chief guest at the R-Day parade on Kartavya Path tomorrow, landed in Jaipur wherein he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Macron will announce a military-industrial corridor roadmap with PM Modi. Under this corridor, the French companies are going to set up house in India. The supply chains of both the countries will join in to produce high-end technology platform right from design to certification stage. The entire gamut of manufacturing will be done in India, with the Indian supply chains allowed access to France.
Once you have military-industrial platforms ready and manufacturing going ahead, the Indian imports of high-end technology items will fall down. India will become a storehouse for global manufacturing. It will lead to more jobs for Indian youth and higher economic growth over the years.
PM Modi always has a vision and a plan and there is a method to the last mile. To say that India is going to be a developed country by 2047 is not a dream. It can be definitely achieved under the current circumstances and leadership.
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
