The Chief Minister's Office of Gujarat on Wednesday, 17 June 2026 credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 12-year tenure with making India's armed forces more capable and its borders more secure, framing the country's growing defence self-reliance as a defining achievement under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

The post, shared under the hashtag #12YearsOfSurakshitBharat, states in Gujarati: 'Maananiya Vadapradhan Shri Narendrabhai Modina netrutvama chhella 12 varshmaa deshni sena vadhu sashakt ane simao vadhu surakshit bani chhe' — 'Under the leadership of honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi, in the last 12 years the country's armed forces have become stronger and the borders more secure.' It further declares that the nation's defence capability, 'with valour, strength and self-respect, has become the identity of an Atmanirbhar Bharat.'

Context

June 2026 marks roughly 12 years since Narendra Modi was first sworn in as Prime Minister in May 2014. State governments and party-affiliated offices have used the milestone to highlight what they describe as a transformation in India's security posture. The Gujarat CMO's post is part of that coordinated national narrative, anchoring defence modernisation to the broader Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign launched in May 2020.

The post accompanies a video, signalling a multimedia push to reach Gujarati-language audiences on social media with the government's defence-achievement messaging.

Policy Backdrop

Since 2014, the central government has progressively restructured defence procurement to favour domestic sources. The Defence Procurement Procedure was revised in 2016 to elevate 'Make in India' categories, and again in 2020 with a negative list banning imports of certain items. In August 2020, the Ministry of Defence notified indigenisation lists committing to domestic production of 460 defence items by 2025.

The share of indigenous defence procurement has risen from roughly 40 per cent to over 60 per cent over this period, supported by technology-transfer mandates and public-private partnerships. The Agnipath short-service recruitment scheme, announced in June 2022, was positioned as a structural reform to free capital for modernisation.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the indigenisation push are India's armed forces — the Army, Navy, and Air Force — which have inducted locally developed platforms and systems under the self-reliance drive. Domestic defence manufacturers, both public-sector undertakings and private firms, have gained from expanded orders and technology-transfer arrangements.

For Gujarat specifically, the state has positioned itself as a hub for defence and aerospace manufacturing, with industrial corridors and dedicated defence parks attracting investment aligned with the national policy direction.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to defence budget allocations for 2026-27 and any further negative import lists or contracts under the iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) programme expected in the coming months. These decisions will test whether the indigenisation targets set through 2025 have been met and what the next phase of the self-reliance roadmap looks like.

The Gujarat CMO's messaging suggests the ruling dispensation intends to keep defence self-reliance central to its political communication as India's 12-year milestone under the current central government is marked across states.