The Modi Years: 5 Ways India's 'Mindset' Changed from 2014 to 2025

Indians now want more and more, and in a hurry, while reveling in a potent mix of nationalism and Hindutva.

Almost all the commentary and analysis of one year of Modi 3.0 or 11 years of Modi revolve around the same adage: you can see the glass as half full or half empty.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

(This is the first in a three-part series of columns that assess and analyse the changes that India has witnessed as a society, polity and economy since 26 May 2014 when Narendra Modi first took oath as the prime minister of India. The authors argue that “mindset” changes in India are more profound and will impact the future of India in more powerful ways than the persona and performance of Modi.)

When Narendra Modi burst upon the national scene as a serious contender for the Delhi throne in late 2012, he started addressing diverse groups of citizens and stakeholders. In one of his more memorable interactions with students at the Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi, Modi used an old cliché to make his point: you can see the glass as half empty; or half full.

Almost all the commentary and analysis of one year of Modi 3.0 or 11 years of Modi revolve around the same adage.

For those who think Modi is a modern-day messiah, the glass is not just half full but also filling up rapidly. For those who see him as a tyrant, the glass is not just half empty but leaking too from the bottom. That’s natural because we live in highly polarised times.

How India Thinks

For the authors, an assessment of Modi and his tenure are both interesting and important. Dozens of analysts dripping with intellect have already done that over the last two weeks. But what the authors find more interesting is the “mindset” changes in India that are more profound than the persona and performance of Modi.

Mindset is too diffuse a term to define precisely. Yet, it exists, and it shapes the future in ways we often fail to comprehend in the age of breathtaking breaking news cycles.

When historians look back at these 11 years and more, it is the mindset changes that will echo in a more resounding and durable manner than the personality of Modi.

Very briefly, the authors have identified five "mindset" changes in Indian society and polity that mark contemporary India under Modi. The changes didn’t start happening on 26 May 2014 when Modi first took oath as the prime minister.

The Nobel Prize-winning author VS Naipaul had observed and talked about these mindset changes since the 1990s when the Indian society was in turmoil. He often called it the attempts of a “wounded civilization” to reassertion itself. Naipaul also talked of how such profound changes are always accompanied by the good, the bad, and the ugly. The authors concur. They also lay no claim to be the final word. Others can have their views about mindset changes that differ from what the authors point out.

But in an ancient civilization modernising in the age of AI and Robotics, disagreements are always welcome.

Aspirational to Impatient

The first mindset change is that the ordinary Indian is now impatiently aspirational. Modi had picked up from some scholarly work and used the term “neo-middle class”. The age of patiently plodding and stoically accepting fate Indians is gone for good.

Indians now want more and more, and in a hurry. The second change in mindset is a peculiar fusion of nationalism and Hindutva.

Indians were as patriotic back in 1962 when China militarily and psychologically humiliated India. They were patriotic even in 1971. All along, Hindutva was an undercurrent running in the subterranean psyche. Today, the two strands have merged to become a potent force, for better and for worse.

The third mindset change is an increasing emphasis on “identity” even as India embraces globalisation. Ethnic and other identities have always been a subject of social assertion in India. But, in contemporary times, caste, regional, religious and linguistic identity assertion have acquired a momentum of their own. It can cause both immense good and damage.

Assertive & in Your Face

The fourth mindset change can be witnessed in the manner foreign minister S Jaishankar interacts with the world at public fora. For the first time since Independence, Indian diplomacy is assertive and in your face without being apologetic. The moral compass has been replaced by a ruthless pursuit of national interests.

The fifth change is amongst ordinary citizens. Decades of socialism and the Gandhian embrace of asceticism and thrift have been replaced by consumerism with vengeance. This generation of Indians believes more in the EMI than prudence.

What is being impatiently aspirational? It is a newfound quest for a fair share in the pie. No matter what caste or any other identity, contemporary Indians are no longer willing to accept the status quo as permanent. They want a place in political, social and economic power hierarchies.

You can see that in increasingly aggressive Dalit assertions. You can see this even in construction sites where workers no longer tolerate abuse and exploitation of the kind that was common till the end of the 20th century.

'BPL' No More

When feeding a family is no longer a worry for an overwhelming majority of Indians, it is axiomatic for other aspirations to grab mind space. Going by the latest data released by the World Bank, extreme poverty has more or less been eliminated in India.

Now, the World Bank takes a daily expenditure of $3 or about Rs 255 per person per day as the benchmark, up from the previous $2.15. In simple terms, a family of five needs to be able to afford spending about Rs 1,250 a day or Rs 37,500 per month to be categorised as above the poverty line. Only 5.3 percent of Indians failed to make the cut in 2022-23.

The numbers must have gone down further. Earning and spending Rs 37,500 a month with free rations, free medical insurance, and free school education is a transformation that Indians could not even dream of when the 21st century came about. When you are free from hunger, you start hungering for more.

In the next column in this mini-series, the authors will talk of nationalism, Hindutva and identity that is unique to the Modi era.

Frankly, Modi may or may not be the fountainhead of many of these profound changes; he has certainly become a symptom and a symbol for the same.

(Yashwant Deshmukh and Sutanu Guru are political analysts with the CVoter Foundation. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the authors' own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)