Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a stark warning about the state of the global economy on Saturday, as he addressed a community event in The Hague during his visit to the Netherlands, the second leg of his five-nation tour.
“First came the coronavirus pandemic, then wars began to erupt, and now the world is facing an energy crisis. This decade is increasingly turning into a decade of disasters for the world. We can all see that if these conditions are not changed swiftly, the achievements of many past decades could be undone. A very large section of the world’s population could once again be pushed into the quagmire of poverty,” he said.
What Hema Malini said
Now, Hema Malini, an actor who is also a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and represents the Mathura constituency in the Lok Sabha, has shared a note on her X account on the current climate where India is facing new challenges. She wrote a statement on her X account, which began: “Just a gentle reminder about the way the whole nation rallied behind the PM during those terrible Covid days! We fought the pandemic as a single force and came out strong and united as compared to other countries that collapsed under the strain!”
She went on to add, “The same kind of unity is required now. We need to fight the economic collapse that is threatening the whole world and emerge as a strong nation that hasn’t buckled under the pressure and tension. Let us show the world once more that we are made of sterner stuff. Let us respond to our PM’s clarion call and practise austerity and restraint and refrain from straining our economy so that we do not sink with the rest (folded hands emoticon) JAI HIND.”
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The remarks came at a moment of acute economic anxiety across India, West Asia, and beyond. Days before his European tour, speaking in Hyderabad, PM Modi called on Indians to adopt voluntary austerity measures, urging them to work from home wherever possible, limit overseas travel, and reduce purchases of gold.
He described fuel conservation and saving foreign exchange as an act of “patriotism”, encouraging greater use of public transport, carpooling, and lower fertiliser consumption. “We must make efforts to use only as much as is needed to save foreign currency and reduce the adverse effects of war crises,” he said.
