Happy Birthday Narendra Modi: Five incidents that prove India comes first for PM Modi

PM Narendra Modi has never wavered from taking key policy decisions.

Narendra Modi took the reign of India in his hand in 2014 and since then, there have been numerous occasions that proved his political decisiveness. Be it demonetization in 2016 or returning to power in 2019 with a huge mandate or repealing farm laws for the welfare of society, he has never wavered from taking key policy decisions. Today, we take a look at five instances that prove nation comes first for PM Narendra Modi: 

Make in India in Defence: To make India self-reliant in the defence sector, the Narendra Modi government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years. The government has so far banned the import of 1238 defence sector-related items to promote manufacturing of these items in India. Many significant products including 155mm Artillery Gun system ‘Dhanush’, Main Battle Tank ‘Arjun’, T-90 Tank, INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Chennai, Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS), Software Defined Radios(SDR) etc have been produced in the country during the last few years which are being used by the Indian Armed Forces. Recently, the Indian Navy inducted the indigenously built warship INS Vikrant, the largest warship built in the country that can carry a crew of 1,600 and operate a fleet of 30 fighter aircraft. This shows India's increasing military prowess. The push for Make in India for defence also led to an increase in defence exports. The country recorded the highest ever defence exports of Rs 12,815 crore in 2021-22 while it was Rs 2,059 crore in 2015-16.

Netanyahu's Mic Gaffe: PM Modi visited Israel in 2017. After a few months, then Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s conversation with east European leaders was inadvertently broadcast where he quoted PM Modi saying that the latter visited Israel to get clean water for India. "I have to take care of the interests of India. I need more water. Clean water. Where will I get it?..." Netanyahu quoted PM Modi as saying. This shows how PM Modi keeps looking for the best technologies available across the world that can help India solve the problems of its citizens. Israel has one of the best technologies for purifying water.   

Abhinandan Varthaman Incident: You might recall India's surgical strike in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26, 2019. On Feb 27, some Pakistani jets entered India and were chased out by the Indian Air Force. During the incident, one of the IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's jet got hit and he landed in Pak territory. India had put immense pressure on Pak to return Abhinandan safely and it was proved from a Pakistan minister's statement. In October 2020, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq quoted then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as saying that if Abhinandan was not released, India would attack Pakistan at 9 PM. He said that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was perspiring and his 'legs were shaking'. This shows PM Modi-led Indian government's resolve to go to any extent to get back the IAF pilot.

Import of Raw Material for Vaccines: Just like other countries, India also faced severe covid waves. While the vaccines were manufactured in India, Pune-based Serum Institute faced a herculean task of getting some raw material from the US as America had banned the export of those materials. Then, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had a telephonic conversation with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the US agreed to lift the export ban on those items for India. 

Oil imports from Russia: After a war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, the United States slapped many sanctions against Russia. On the other hand, Russia was offering oil at cheaper prices. The United States and many European Countries were trying to build pressure on India to not buy cheaper oil from Russia. However, India brushed aside all those pressures and purchased oil from Russia. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said publicly that the government must ensure the best deal and get cheaper oil for people.