Having played a crucial role in India’s Independence and early governance, the Congress had the privilege of being led by the tallest leaders of the country, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose and many others, but eventually turned into a family-run enterprise. As a fledgling nation, India aspired to stand on its own feet. But this never happened. Ill-conceived economic policies that manifested in the licence raj and structural inefficiencies at that time led to the stagnation of economic growth, which was labelled the Hindu rate of growth. The term was offending and misleading, as the slow growth was due to excessive government control, not cultural or religious factors. Sadly, not a single Congress leader condemned this unfair labelling.

In 1966, the sudden death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s successor and India’s second PM, Lal Bahadur Shastri, led to the rise of Indira Gandhi. She was known to be one of India’s most influential PMs. But when the name Indira Gandhi is mentioned, for many, the first thought that comes to mind is her imposition of the Emergency, the suspension of civil liberties, press censorship, and the jailing of Opposition leaders. There were widespread human rights violations, demolitions of slums and even forced sterilisations. Instead of institutional governance, her government became an authoritarian regime with allegations of corruption and misuse of power. There was no social media back then, so her crackdown on the media was absolute. Many Opposition-led state governments were dismissed.

Then, our nation also witnessed extreme incidences of polarisation, scandals, and riots. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II government, which lasted from 2009 to 2014, was marked by policy paralysis, massive corruption (2G, Coalgate, Commonwealth Games), and a failure to control inflation and unemployment. By the time its term came to an end, it was drowning in corruption cases. Anti-incumbency was at its highest. Simultaneously, Modi’s proven track record as the Gujarat chief minister and the BJP’s well-organised campaign ensured a historic mandate for the party in the 2014 general elections.

PM Modi’s extraordinary rise is not a story of overnight success. It is the result of a strong work ethic, long-term vision, and a hands-on approach to governance. His tenure has seen major transformations across various sectors successfully reshaping India’s economy, governance, and global presence. The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was one of India’s most significant tax reforms. The smooth rollout of the GST in our vast country was truly phenomenal and should be a case study for universities around the world.

Until a few years ago, who would have imagined that a robust cash-based economy involving 1.4 billion Indians would prefer to pay even their smallest bills digitally? In fact, India’s former finance minister, P Chidambaram, had mocked the idea of a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on the floor of Parliament by questioning the presence of banks, the internet, and electricity in villages. The government under our visionary PM, managed to dream and eventually achieve what was thought impossible.

The Ram Mandir movement had been at the heart of Hindutva politics for decades. It was the PM’s ability to merge faith, law, and politics that ensured a smooth transition of the very complicated matter and led to the pran pratishtha (consecration) of Lord Ram at Ayodhya.

The ambitious Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat calls have helped create robust infrastructure, increased Foreign Direct Investment into India, generated millions of jobs, boosted exports, and positioned India as a major global manufacturing destination. Indians have never felt so confident and self-reliant. The present dispensation’s commitment to the welfare of the poor can be determined by the fact that, since 2014, it has spent $400 billion on various schemes aimed at supporting hundreds of millions of poor and lower-middle-class Indians. Programme implementation and resource allocation at such volumes with zero leakages has to be the greatest achievement of any government ever.

It was the positive approach of the Union government that made it possible for the abrogation of Article 370 to come through smoothly. The perfect combination of honest intention, legal expertise, and security control in the region ensured the successful abrogation despite opposition from some politicians with vested interests and separatist groups.

Infrastructure development, health care and pandemic management, foreign policy, affordable insurance, farmer’s welfare, women empowerment, modern education, and skill development — with public welfare initiatives across sectors, along the length and breadth of the country, PM Modi’s government has changed the narrative from “family first” to “sabka saath, sabka vikas”. Seventy-five years after becoming a Republic, India is now on the fast track to development, and we are not stopping. Charaiveti, charaiveti (keep walking, keep marching)!

Devendra Fadnavis is chief minister, Maharashtra.The views expressed are personal