PM Modi returns to SRCC after 13 years for centenary, Teachers' Day address
PM Modi addressed students at SRCC on Teachers' Day, returning to the campus 13 years after his first speech there.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi on Saturday, delivering an address on the occasion of Teachers' Day. The visit marks his return to the campus 13 years after his first speech there, and coincides with the college's centenary year.
The event is part of a broader government initiative to have ministers interact with students on campuses, a decision taken following recent protests in Delhi and other cities.
In his previous address at SRCC in 2013, Modi — then Chief Minister of Gujarat and the BJP's prime ministerial candidate — spoke to a packed auditorium. He framed the youth not merely as new-age voters but as "new-age power," and outlined his vision for development-focused politics.
During that speech, he highlighted Gujarat's balanced focus on agriculture, industry, and services, and joked about the state's geographical challenges, noting the desert on one side and Pakistan on the other. He also cited examples of global preparedness, contrasting Japan and South Korea's Olympic planning with India's approach to the Commonwealth Games.
Modi had also spoken about the importance of building brands, recalling how "Made in Japan" was a trusted label in his childhood. He urged India to become a producer of goods rather than a market for others to "dump" products into.
He shared an anecdote about a Dalit villager questioning former US President Bill Clinton about perceptions of India's poverty, suggesting that Indians were second to none. He cautioned that the world would not wait for India if the country adopted a casual attitude, and stressed that development, not vote-bank politics, was the need of the hour.