Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharply criticized the term "Hindu rate of growth" during his address at the 23rd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Friday, December 5, 2025, labeling it a malicious attempt to tarnish the Hindu way of life by tying it to India's historical economic stagnation. Speaking to a gathering of business leaders, policymakers, and influencers in the capital, Modi asserted that the phrase—coined in the mid-20th century—was not just an economic descriptor but a deliberate distortion designed to foster division and undermine cultural pride. He emphasized that such narratives had no place in modern discourse, urging the audience to reject them in favor of celebrating India's accelerated progress under current governance. The remarks, delivered with characteristic fervor, drew applause and reignited a long-simmering debate on the semantics and implications of the term, which has symbolized sluggish development for decades but now faces scrutiny over its potentially pejorative undertones.

The "Hindu rate of growth" originated in the 1960s, attributed to economist Raj Krishna, to characterize India's post-independence economic performance averaging around 3.5% annually during the planned economy era from 1950 to 1980. This period, marked by heavy state intervention, import substitution policies, and the License Raj—a web of bureaucratic controls that stifled private enterprise—resulted in what critics dubbed a "low-equilibrium trap," where growth barely outpaced population increases, keeping per capita income stagnant and perpetuating widespread poverty. Proponents of the term, including policymakers like Krishna, used it analytically to highlight the need for liberalization, without explicit religious intent, but its phrasing drew early flak for cultural insensitivity. By the 1980s, as partial reforms under Indira and Rajiv Gandhi nudged growth to 5.5%, the label began fading, only to be revived in academic and political circles as a cautionary tale against policy inertia.

Modi's intervention adds a fresh layer to an enduring debate, where economists and historians have long contested whether the term was ever truly about religion or merely a shorthand for systemic failures. Left-leaning scholars argue it was a neutral critique of Nehruvian socialism's shortcomings, pointing to data from the World Bank showing GDP growth languishing at 3.2% in the 1970s amid oil shocks and political instability. Conversely, right-wing commentators, including those aligned with the BJP, have amplified Modi's view, claiming it exemplified a broader pattern of "pseudo-secular" rhetoric that equated Hindu-majority India's challenges with inherent cultural flaws—a narrative echoed in books like Koenraad Elst's works on economic history. The controversy has intensified post-2014, as India's growth surged to 7-8% annually under liberalization 2.0, with infrastructure booms and digital initiatives, prompting questions about whether resurrecting the term serves political point-scoring more than policy reflection.

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As India eyes an 8% growth trajectory for 2025-26 per IMF projections, Modi's comments underscore a push to reframe national success stories through a lens of cultural affirmation, distancing the present from past labels. This episode highlights the intersection of economics and identity in public discourse, reminding stakeholders that terms once confined to seminar rooms can swiftly become flashpoints in a polarized landscape. While the debate may not alter fiscal charts, it reinforces the prime minister's narrative of a resurgent India, unburdened by historical baggage, and invites broader introspection on how language shapes perceptions of progress in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

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