Nation Building

 

29 August 2026

Mahesh Jethmalani on X: "For decades before 2014, the world practically mocked every Prime Minister's foreign trip as 'vanity' or 'photo-op'. But Look at the last 24 months and try, honestly, to call this theatre. In a world of tariffs, wars and broken supply chains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not" / X  Modi is not collecting photographs. He is building leverage. Leverage over energy, minerals, missiles, markets, technology and of course free trade agreements.

The record speaks for itself. May 2026, UAE: a brief stop, massive yield. Strategic petroleum collaboration with ADNOC, including potential storage of up to 30 million barrels in India. A long-term LPG track for homes and industry. A Strategic Defence Partnership framework covering manufacturing, training, maritime security and cyber. A ship-repair cluster at Vadinar. Around $5 billion in announced investment into Indian infrastructure and finance. That is energy security when West Asia is on fire and sea lanes can become pressure points overnight. February 2026, Israel: sixteen agreements. An agricultural research and innovation centre on Indian soil. Deeper defence and technology cooperation. Cyber. R&D. Cultural and digital ties. An FTA pushed onto a faster track. That meant technology and capability coming back to Indian farmers, Indian industry and Indian defence. June 2026, France: the Innovation Roadmap 2030. A series of agreements across innovation, defence, space and technology. An economic-security dialogue. A mechanism aimed at doubling trade. July 2026, Indonesia: fourteen agreements and new initiatives. BrahMos cooperation—a serious step forward for Indian defence exports. Critical minerals and rare earths. Maritime security. Space. Steel. Healthcare. And, crucially, an attempt to reduce Chinese dominance over the materials that will decide the future of batteries, electronics and weapons. Australia: civil nuclear arrangements opening the door to uranium supply, a Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap, defence agreements and a growing trade relationship. New Zealand added another maritime track. These are not souvenirs from foreign visits. They are part of the road map for a more secure, more resilient and more self-reliant Viksit Bharat. Atmanirbhar Bharat. Today, The New York Times published an article headlined: “Modi Is Hedging Against Trump, One Deal at a Time.” Its central point is simple: Modi has used each foreign visit to push India’s interests in security, trade and energy. The India-US trade talks launched in February 2025 under President Trump were expected to produce haste and concession. Duties piled up, at one point heading towards 50 percent, including a penalty linked to Russian oil. The expectation in some capitals was simple: India would fold. India did not FOLD. It refused a rushed, one-sided bargain. It held its ground on reciprocal access, domestic industry and agriculture. It bought time. And then used that time. While talks dragged on, Delhi built alternatives: Gulf energy security, Israeli defence technology and agricultural innovation, French industrial and technology partnerships, Indonesian minerals and missile exports, Australian uranium and maritime cooperation. That is how a continental economy stops negotiating from weakness. Even after the February 2026 interim move towards an 18 percent reciprocal rate, Indian negotiators continued to hold out for terms that did not sacrifice agriculture or leave India permanently worse off than its competitors. Even news media, whose first instinct is to criticise PM Modi, started to understand the value of his initiatives. Reuters described an increasingly confident India drawing strength from new partnerships. The Wall Street Journal wrote that New Delhi’s deal-making with middle powers had strengthened its hand with Washington. That is the point. You do not gain respect at a difficult negotiating table by talking about old friendships. You gain it by showing that you have choices. Beyond the international coverage of Modi and Trump, reporting on tariffs, tensions and the unfinished trade bargain, something else is happening: India is no longer waiting for others to solve its problems. It is securing supply chains, energy, minerals, defence partnerships and markets first and then negotiating. That is why India can deal with America without surrendering its interests and deal with China without being intimidated. The world does not hand out influence. You have to build it. And 2026 is a brutal year in which to do so. Energy routes are under threat. Great powers are openly transactional. China remains ambitious. America is demanding. In that environment, speeches do not keep the lights on. Statements do not fill strategic reserves. What does? A Prime Minister who treats every foreign visit as work. Modi’s personal standing with world leaders is not branding. It has strategic value for India. It gives India access, trust and room to manoeuvre. And the growing confidence in India abroad is not charity. It comes from agreements signed, supply chains opened, capabilities built, markets expanded and promises delivered. This is interest-first statecraft. Relentless. History will not remember who mocked whose boarding pass. It will ask a harder question: When the world became unstable, who came home with oil, minerals, missiles, technology, markets and greater bargaining power? That work is underway. It is unfinished.

And it is exactly the work required to secure India’s interests and India’s rightful place in a world that respects countries which have options .6:23PM 29 August 2026

22 August 2026

  Dr Poornima 🇮🇳 on X: "Did you notice. America established nine military bases in the Middle East, with agreements to provide military protection to these countries in the event of an external attack. Bahrain : U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters Qatar : Al Udeid Air Base. Kuwait : several major" / X Jordan : multiple U.S. military locations.

Iraq : several bases, airfields.

Syria : several smaller U.S. military positions Oman : access to military facilities and ports. But the US could not protect a single country listed above from the missiles of Iran, as they pounded country after country. India on the other hand, resisted American dominance and refused to simply align itself with America's policies, even when faced with heavy tariffs and criticism during Operation Sindoor as opposed to Pakistan and Bangladesh. Instead, India focused on developing and manufacturing its own defence systems and defence capabilities. (Make in India). The result today is that countries such as Vietnam, UAE,Chile,Brazil Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Saudi Arabia & Egypt are increasingly looking to India for defence equipment and military platforms. And even "atami taaqat" nations think a hundred times before provoking India. You may ridicule mock and denigrate PM Modi for his political science degree, for his desi accent of English or for his hugs, but it is an established fact that he made India stronger economically militarily and Internationally.

That is what a capable Prime Minister does.5:25PM 22 August 2026

Demand for meritocracy by young students and youtubers for Viksit Bharat. ANI on X: "#WATCH | Delhi: On the Jantar Mantar protest against caste-based reservation, YouTuber Ajeet Bharti says, "Our biggest demand is that the government should come up with a white paper stating that the reservations you've given to people for 80 years... I come from Bihar. Research https://t.co/Auucz8VAaH" / XI come from Bihar. Research how dire the situation of the Musahar community is. Their children aren't getting reservations. Why? Because those caste groups don't even have leaders... The second demand is quota within quota, on which the government has also said that we will not implement the creamy layer in it. Why will you not implement it? It is so absurd that the government is bowing down to those few Dalit leaders who only talk about their caste group... The third demand is minimum marks. You cannot sell the dream of a developed India by compromising on merit. If 50% of the deserving youth or boys and girls who are studying will not get admission in the IITs, IIMs, or higher education, your efficiency has reduced by 50% right there... Then the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) should be made a part of the Scheduled Castes (SC). The class whose definition says economically weaker, you are neither giving them a facility in buying the form, nor are you waiving their hostel fee, nor is their course fee being waived; what will you achieve by merely recognising it?... At least indicate that we are going to have a sit-down talk about this..." 6:15AM 22 August 2026

26 July 2026

STAR Boy TARUN on X: "CJP Protest: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly First, the Ugly ▪️This is not the end, it is only the beginning of a new era of protests. Many more will follow in the future. ▪️All enemies of India have now understood the winning three-point template to pressure the Modi government: https://t.co/2I8a3ho9u8" / X the winning three-point template to pressure the Modi government:

1. Pick an emotional issue, target any powerful group (Dalits, minorities, farmers, youth, etc.), and use social media to provoke them.

2. Bring them onto the streets by arranging logistics and create a law-and-order situation. 3. Keep repeating steps 1 and 2. The moment there is a real possibility of the situation spinning out of control, the Modi government will be forced to accept their demands. The Bad It is extremely difficult to stop their social media propaganda because the algorithms are left-biased and they enjoy support from foreign countries. Left media also has massive funding support from organisations like IPSMF. They deploy organised fake news, AI-generated videos, provocative thumbnails, half-truths and heavily edited clips to provoke people, making it very hard to counter them. The Good We have now also understood this 3 point template and can plan better to counter their next moves. Suggestions Enact a strict law against fake news. If we can stop the propaganda at the first step itself, their entire toolkit will be punctured. Love for genuine ones, Fear for bad ones. Dont spare those bastards who created law and order situation this time and those who abused PM Modi Build a street army of 1 crore Hindus who can assemble any time at one call