Amid H-1B visa fee hike, PM Modi emphasises self-reliance; calls dependence on other nations ‘our biggest enemy’

India's main adversary is its dependence on other nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during a public address in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The speech comes right after US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation requiring companies to pay $100,000 annually for each H-1B worker visa.

The PM called for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and for the indigenous production of everything from semiconductor chips to ships.

Modi said all problems of India have only one solution, and that is self-reliance, while addressing the 'Samudra se Samruddhi' event.

“We have no major enemy in the world. Our only real enemy is our dependence on other countries. This is our biggest enemy, and together we must defeat this enemy of India, the enemy of dependence,” Modi said.

He noted that greater foreign dependence leads to greater national failure. "For global peace, stability, and prosperity, the world's most populous country must become self-reliant", Modi said and cautioned that reliance on others compromises national self-respect.

“We cannot leave the resolution for the country's development to the dependence on others. We cannot put the future of future generations at stake. There is only one medicine for a hundred sorrows, and that is a self-reliant India," he said

Modi said that when the globalisation era began, the then governments focused solely on imports, which led to scams of thousands of crores. "These policies caused significant harm to India's youth and prevented the nation's true potential from emerging," he added.

He highlighted India's shipping sector as a major example of the damage caused by flawed policies. Modi said that India had historically a very vibrant shipbuilding industry. "Ships built in India's coastal states once powered domestic and global trade. Even fifty years ago, India used domestically built ships, with over 40 per cent of its import-export conducted through them. Till 50 years ago, our trade was carried out by 40 per cent ships made in India, but this has now come down to just 5 per cent," he said. He called Indian ports the ‘backbone of the nation’.

The PM also criticised the Congress and said that the party suppressed the inherent talent of Indians by placing restrictions like the licence raj.

During the visit to Gujarat, the PM inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for development projects related to the maritime sector worth more than Rs 7,870 crore, including the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal today. He also unveiled and laid the foundation stone of multiple projects of the Central and state governments, worth more than Rs 26,354 crore, catering to various sectors in Gujarat.

In total, he inaugurated and laid foundation stones of development projects worth over ₹34,200 crore during the visit.

With inputs from PTI