In the face of high inflation and unemployment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been repeatedly telling voters that India is just beginning a "golden era” that will run for the next quarter century.
"On the first morning of this amrit kaal I am filled with pride to see such an immensely endowed nation,” Modi said Monday in a speech to mark the 75th anniversary of independence from British rule, delivered from the ramparts of the 17th century Red Fort in the Indian capital. The phrase "amrit kaal" first made a prominent appearance in a Modi speech on the same day last year, when he described it as a journey of a "new India” for the next 25 years.
Modi used the term 14 times in his address on Monday. That’s the most on a single day so far this year according to a Bloomberg News analysis of dozens of speeches over the past 12 months, which shows that Modi’s use of amrit kaal appears to spike when his government has been under pressure.