‘My Name is Grey’: Parliament gets First Glimpse of Viksit Bharat

The BJP cheerleaders now speak of an impending ‘Viksit Bharat.” Another 22 years! India will be a developed nation.

By MANISH ANAND

New Delhi, December 19, 2025 — Air in parliament is pure. Crystal clear. China-made machines pump curated air for India’s parliamentarians.

Air outside parliament is foul. Hospitals are running out of stocks. Party parrots of ruling dispensation blame “wrong Apps” for alarming readings of the air quality index (AQI).

Naked eyes may also be wrong. The sky is blue in some parts of the world. The sky here in the national capital region of Delhi is dark grey. Months have gone by. The colour is still dark grey.

Pediatrics at the first sight of a coughing child writes down detailed prescription for nebulizing. Just do it as it’s written. No less. No More. Still small kids cough.

The children born in Modi-era in Delhi NCR may possibly have not seen a clear sky. They have known online education. Screen addiction is a new normal.

But why blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for chemical-laced air in Delhi NCR! The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had been taking regular meetings on Delhi’s extreme air quality crisis for a few years. The ritual this year seems to have been forgotten.

Indeed, India has a Minister for Environment. His name is Bhupender Yadav. But why blame him for poison in air in Delhi NCR. Yadav is strategizing for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The West Bengal Assembly elections will take India closer to “Viksit Bharat.”

Only few in India travel abroad. So, the sense of “Viksit” is largely not known to most in the country. But films made abroad reveal that developed nations have clean air and water. Speculators reason that Virat Kohli and Anoushka Sharma live in London, not Delhi, because the UK city has air worth breathing.

The BJP cheerleaders now speak of an impending ‘Viksit Bharat.” Another 22 years! India will be a developed nation.

Members of Indian parliament got the first glimpse of “Viksit Bharat.” They debated “VB G RAM G.”

What if Viksit Bharat refuses to reveal its shape! It can be forced to reveal its promises. That’s easy. A name change is enough.

Modi had lambasted the Congress in 2015, in his speech in the Lok Sabha, for “politics of poverty” through MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). Eleven years later, the grand edifice of the politics of poverty wears a saffron colour and Modi signature.

Slogans change. Politics plunders faithful. Governance glides to statistics. In Delhi, the Viksit Bharat speaks loudly: “My name is Grey.”

(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are those of the author only)

MNREGA: A Living Memorial to Congress Failures and Poverty

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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