In a world with raging conflict and instability, how can India sustain its rise and attain the status of a leading power? External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar believes it is only possible if India draws on the reserves of strength, courage and confidence inherent in its glorious millennia-old continuous civilisation and heritage. His new book, Why Bharat Matters, is a tour de force about the centrality of culture and core values in piloting a nation’s ascent in the international arena. It offers a dialectic between present-day geopolitical challenges and the ancient wisdom contained in the eternal Hindu epic, the Ramayana, and argues that India is regaining its rightful place in the comity of nations because it has rediscovered its cultural roots and has become an authentic self-defined force.
That this line of reasoning is coming from a writer who is the principal voice and implementer of India’s foreign policy is an indication of how a deeply rooted Bharat consciousness guides the Narendra Modi government’s worldview. Jaishankar contends in his book that in the Modi era, India matters much more to the world since it is proactively providing innovative solutions to 21st-century problems while also “projecting Indian traditions, history and culture more visibly on the world stage”. He sketches Bharat models of economic development without compromising on democracy, of a realpolitik-based no-nonsense approach to national security without “Left-wing romanticism”, and of shrewdly pursuing a multipolar world order without “strategic complacency”.
While presenting India as a generous friend to the world in times of crises and distress, Jaishankar is unapologetic about a fiercer and more “nationalist diplomacy” that is essential to handle the “much tougher world” of today. Despite the limitations of holding a high office in the government, he has candidly taken on two principal opponents of India in this book— an expansionist, aggressive China and “continuing hegemonism visible in many quarters in the West”.
Jaishankar lambasts the “Chindia” and “united front” illusions of strategic partnerships with China and traces these arguments to the woolly-headed idealism of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He shows that there were alternative realistic viewpoints even in the immediate post-Independence years, and calls for a hardened stance based on accurately understanding the nature of the dragon and its intent to impose its will on India. For the record, Jaishankar firmly clarifies in the book that China’s “expectation that we must conform to the ups and downs” of its policy preferences and accordingly downgrade our strategic partnerships with the United States and its allies is “unrealistic and unjustified”. Partners, he explains, “should be chosen on interests and not on the basis of sentiments or prejudices”, and he promises that “a more culturally assured India” will not backtrack on alignment with the West to appease China.
Jaishankar’s book also rebuffs hypocritical western liberal hectoring and finger-wagging against India over democracy, human rights and multiculturalism. His take is that the self-appointed custodians of global morality must look at themselves in the mirror and adjust to a new reality where “post-colonial polities like India” are “reasserting their identities and standing their ground.” He also warns that “external interests are strongly aligned with the local elite with whom there is a mutual understanding” to push exaggerated portrayals and stymie India’s rise. The antidote to this campaign to malign India’s image, says Jaishankar, is to effectively communicate “our own narrative” and to invest in strategic communication at the international level. He adds the caveat that “India may be non-West but must realise that there is little profit in being anti-West”.
Jaishankar has made the case that India’s rise is not only ushering in a multipolar distribution of economic and military power but also a more egalitarian world where alternative civilisations and ideas have influence. He talks of an Indian exceptionalism with “a different level of culture and heritage, with accompanying attitudes and mindset” that sets Bharat apart from the United States and China. His analogy of India as the monkey god Hanuman, who undergoes a transformation over the course of the Ramayana through greater “self-awareness” and “self-discovery”, realises how much latent strength he has, and then harnesses it to face exacting challenges, is thought-provoking.
The ultimate message of Why Bharat Matters is that India must be accepted for what it is and what it represents, not forced to fit into straitjackets that benefit the agendas of others. An original work of cultural revivalism, this book deserves a wide readership.
Sreeram Chaulia is dean, Jindal School of International Affairs. The views expressed are personal
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