In 2025-26 India will reclaim its position of third-largest economy: Dutch author

Mumbai: Dutch author and futurist Adjiedj Bakas has said that India has grown from strength to strength over the years after Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru made it stand, PM Manmohan Singh made it work and PM Modi made it run, The Indian Express reported.

Adjiedj Bakas, who was in Mumbai last week to launch his book #Forwardism co-authored with his late husband and geopolitical strategist Vinco David, said India got much to offer to the world, its ‘yoga, meditation, culture, fashion, movies, and even music.’

Pointing to the United States’ global supremacy, he said the country achieved it not just because of its army but through its soft power like ‘Hollywood movies, fashion, etc’.

‘Sapphire, which also features Arijit Singh, is playing everywhere right now,’ he pointed out.

Detailing India’s possibilities, he said India’s ‘huge bank of vegetarian recipes’ could be key to its global influence especially as the world is turning increasingly vegetarian.

Another area for India to focus, according to him, is India’s spirituality which has more relevance globally.

‘Gen Z in Europe is turning to God. India is a deeply spiritual country and has much to teach the world,’ he was quoted as saying.

Pointing to the potential of spiritual tourism in India, he suggested that ‘Dwarka, the birthplace of Lord Krishna, should be rebuilt’, adding ‘Gautam Buddha spent much of his life in India. Jesus, too, spent about 20 years in India’.

Bakas, who has co-authored more than 40 books, credited David for drawing him to India and global south.

As a counterpoint to Elon Musk’s idea of New York and London as financial hubs of the Global North, Bakas said Dubai and Mumbai could serve as the financial hub of the Global South citing the proposed a railway between two cities that he said could make travel in 30 minutes.

Referring to India’s growth over the years he said: ‘India has grown from strength to strength—Nehru made India stand, Manmohan (Singh, former PM) made India work, and (PM Narendra) Modi made India run.’

Bakas added that his family was from Bareilly in UP before they moved to ‘a Dutch colony in Suriname, South America, in the 1870s when slavery was abolished and new opportunities arose in plantation work’.

Predicting a prosperous India, he said ‘In 1820, India was the third-largest economy. History will repeat itself—India will reclaim that position in 2025 or 2026.’