The fact that Modi won with a clear majority only served to embolden his governmentвЂ™s resolve to pursue national interests. For the first time in a decade, there was a government at the centre that kept the countryвЂ™s interest above its political self-preservation. The Modi governmentвЂ™s bold governance moves, radical defence measures, and growing assertiveness about its socio-cultural identity ran counter to the beliefs held by the Congress party, and by extension their allies in the western media. The departure of Congress from the centre and the old prejudices fuels Western mediaвЂ™s propaganda blitz against the Modi government The Modi government also stopped the minority appeasement and called out the threat posed by the menace of Islamic radicalism.

It took great pride in its cultural identity and historical traditions, something that the previous UPA regimes and the Congress party had always scorned and despised. Years later, in 2019, the Modi government sanctioned an unprecedented airstrike in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan, to annihilate a terror camp operated by Jaish-e-Muhammad in response to the Pulwama terror attack.ДЄdditionally, the Modi administration was unapologetic about its Hindutva moorings. While the UPA-II exhibited shocking pusillanimity in refraining from attacking Pakistan after the dastardly Mumbai 26/11 attacks, PM Modi authorised an audacious surgical strikes against the terror launchpads responsible for sending terrorists that carried out Uri terror attack.Д«efore striking on IndiaвЂ™s western borders, the Indian Armed Forces carried out a similar surgical strikes to eliminate the terrorists hiding in the thick forests of Myanmar. Key initiatives such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Demonetisation, Make in India, FDI, Startup India & Mudra Yojna, Digital India, Ayushmaan Bharat, Expansion of electricity and road and many others demonstrated the governmentвЂ™s willingness and resolve to usher the country in the era of development.Д®ven on the nationalist front, the Modi government displayed that the government would no longer tolerate the terror attacks that had their roots in neighbouring countries.

India saw a decisive leadership at its helm that did not flinch from taking tough but necessary measures to redirect the countryвЂ™s trajectory towards growth and development. Armed with a thumping majority and PM ModiвЂ™s nationalist credentials, the government set about to banish the state of sluggishness that had become a hallmark of the UPA-II years.Д«y contrast, PM ModiвЂ™s administration infused new energy in governance, policy-making and its implementation. Technically, it was the fourth time that the BJP had managed to win power at the Centre (3 times before Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power), but by far the most potent one. This was the highest number of seats won by any party on its own since the 1984 Lok Sabha elections when the Congress, led by then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi won a decisive victory.

BJP racked up a stunning 282 seats on its own. ModiвЂ™s election to the Centre was particularly momentous, given that it was for the first time in 3 decades that a single party won the majority seats to form the government at the Centre. This day, exactly seven years ago, Narendra Modi won a landslide victory in the 2014 General Assembly elections and was sworn in as the 15th prime minister of the worldвЂ™s largest democracy, in a spectacular ceremony held in Delhi. Marks the seventh anniversary of the Modi government in power.

Barkha dhar