Shifting the national narrative: Indian Dream

Our national narrative must break free from fault lines that shackle us to mediocrity and perpetual victimhood.

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The year 2024 ended with a social media maelstrom, where a factional fight among the Donald Trump supporters resulted in anti-India posts, replete with stereotypes and outright racist rants. Be it the US or the Maldives, it is becoming a global social media trend to "defecate" on India's image, based on outdated perceptions and reductive narratives. Yet, as frustrating as this unwarranted hatred is, if it can serve as a wake-up call for Indians and ignite a collective drive to excel, innovate, and prove the critics wrong, then perhaps this external negativity will have an inadvertently positive contribution.

From the Green Revolution and the nuclear programme to the successes of the IT and pharma sectors and ISRO's phenomenal achievements, India has demonstrated impressive capability over the decades.

The barriers of the pastscarcity of capital or institutional bottlenecks-no longer hinder progress to a considerable extent. With access to greater resources and a conducive environment, there is no reason why India cannot lead in traditional manufacturing, as well as new frontiers in green technology and space exploration. So then, why are we not stepping up as people to seize the moment? The most fundamental reason is the failure to feel personally invested in the India story, combined with a deadly mix of collective inertia, complacency, and an unhealthy tendency to fall back on divisiveness.