Union Coal and Mines Minister and BJP Telangana state president G. Kishan Reddy on Thursday, June 18, 2026, highlighted twelve years of cultural and heritage initiatives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing achievements ranging from the globalisation of Yoga to the repatriation of stolen artefacts and the revival of India's civilisational legacy.

Context

Reddy's post, tagged #12YearsOfVikasBhiVirasatBhi, marks the completion of 12 years of the Modi government's cultural diplomacy agenda. He described India as having 'celebrated its heritage with renewed pride and purpose' under the Prime Minister's leadership, pointing to Yoga's elevation as a global movement and the return of stolen antiquities as defining milestones.

The post invokes the guiding slogan 'Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi' (Heritage too, Development too) — a formulation the central government has used to frame its approach of advancing economic growth alongside cultural preservation.

Policy Backdrop

The cultural agenda Reddy references has deep institutional roots. In 2014, India moved a resolution at the UN General Assembly that led to the declaration of June 21 as the International Day of Yoga, a milestone that became one of the most visible symbols of India's soft-power projection under the Modi administration.

Simultaneously, the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) accelerated efforts to document and reclaim antiquities held in overseas collections. Repatriation of artefacts from foreign museums and private collections has been a recurring feature of high-level diplomatic engagements over this period.

The broader government approach has also included the development of temple corridors, modernisation of national museums, and investment in heritage-linked tourism infrastructure — all positioned as complementary to mainstream economic development.

Stakeholders and Impact

Heritage organisations and the tourism sector are among the primary stakeholders in this policy direction. Heritage-linked infrastructure projects have generated both cultural goodwill and measurable economic activity in pilgrimage and tourism circuits across states.

For the BJP, the 'Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi' framework serves a dual purpose: it anchors the party's development narrative in cultural identity, and it differentiates the current government's record from that of predecessors on questions of civilisational pride and global standing.

Reddy's statement, coming from the BJP's Telangana state president, also carries significance in a state where the party is seeking to consolidate its position ahead of future electoral contests.

What's Next

Further repatriation announcements and heritage-linked infrastructure projects are expected to feature prominently in the government's communications calendar through 2026-27. With assembly elections in several states on the horizon, the cultural heritage theme is likely to remain a central plank of BJP's political messaging, reinforcing the 'Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi' narrative at both national and state levels.