The Debate on India's Path to Growth

The world is interested in India’s growth agenda. There is much conversation on whether it is the right one. Debating the same at the Oxford Union saw many Indians defending their country and their leader. That was almost one year ago. Today, as India conducts general elections, the Oxford Union debate has come to the forefront, with Indian journalist Palki Sharma's fierce defense of her country drawing much attention when she asserted that every country has its path, telling the audience not to judge India or any country on the boundaries of another.

- Jennifer Paldano Goonewardane

Nearly one year later, a video of Indian journalist Palki Sharma defending India at the Oxford Union on the motion ‘This House believes that Modi’s India is on the right path’ had managed to capture Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention who lauded Sharma on X for articulating India’s success story among a distinguished audience in the august halls of Oxford.

The debate took place in June 2023 which had the team supporting the motion consisting of Indian foreign affairs journalist Palki Sharma, the founder of the Deshbhakt, India’s most prominent political satire platform, Akash Banerjee, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development Baroness Sandip Verma, and then Oxford Union President-elect Disha Hedge. The team opposing the motion included All India Kisan Sabha and member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India, Ashok Dhawale, and the former

Indian Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Ajay Maken, cofounder of the Aam Aadmi Party and later of Swaraj Abhiyan, Prashant Bhushan, and Oxford Union’s Ethnic Minorities officer Misha Mian.