Hello and Welcome. This page is a collection of 45 quotes that I liked and saved while reading Why Bharat Matters book by S. Jaishankar. I hope you will like them too.
By the way, I am Deepak Kundu, an avid book reader, quotes collector and blogger.
Why Bharat Matters Quotes
- The diplomacy of a major country is very arduous, even more so when it is a rising power. Leadership and conceptual clarity may make it easier to be executed. But arriving at a comprehensive vision and refreshing that regularly is no easy task. If our international profile has become sharper in the last decade, this is the outcome of a series of policies, decisions and activities. Visions and even goals need strategizing to be realized on the ground. This means interactions, investments and messaging in a focussed and sustained manner. What the public sees is an elegant swan; underneath, there is furious paddling.
- The ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of Modi’s foreign policy is there for all to see. The ‘why’ is a more complex proposition, one that is perhaps sensed intuitively by the public. Much of it flows from a strongly ingrained belief in India’s capability to contribute to a better world. It resides in a self-perception of a well-wisher to the world, for whom the international community is a family, clearly a more confident posture than in the past. But that itself is only a facet of a deeper commitment to national rejuvenation and the resurgence of a civilization.
- This is an India determined to play on the big stage, even change the stage itself where necessary to advance its interests.
- Whether drawing strength from its heritage and culture or approaching challenges with the optimism of democracy and technology, this is certainly a New India, indeed an India that is able to define its own interests, articulate its own positions, find its own solutions and advance its own model. In short, this is an India that is more Bharat.
- Our daily life is increasingly influenced by what happens elsewhere, be they problems or solutions. So, the next time you are watching a foreign visit, hearing a discussion on an important relationship or reading a debate about interests abroad, take it very seriously.
- A ‘good’ foreign policy must work for you personally. Your everyday needs from the world must be better met. Since we are a collective as a country, our national security must be ensured. As that is done, the pursuit of our aspirations must be facilitated. Foreign policy, being the link to the outside, should enable us to draw what we seek. It could be technology, capital, best practices or work opportunities.
- Foreign policy matters not just in distress situations. It could literally determine your security, your job, the quality of your life and, as we discovered recently, even your health. It shapes what you hold dear: pride, values, reputation and image. For all these reasons and more, it is important that you take a greater interest in the world and understand what that could mean for your prospects.
- Diplomacy is a natural partner of defence. Most of the time, it is the first line; on occasion, it is also the back-up. After all, most military situations do end up at the conference table!
- There have always been interests that militate against a strong and united India. In the past, they exploited every faultline that our society provided: religion, language, ethnicity and social strata. Today, in a different garb and with new arguments, they are even more active than before. Perhaps, more of us need to ask ourselves why separatism in India finds regular support in quarters abroad. For that matter, how terrorism directed at us is consistently underplayed or even rationalized. Indeed, why some foreign forums lend themselves so readily to the denigration of our record and achievements.
- In the last decade, we have awoken to the realization that mantras about globalization, if mindlessly applied, can cause real damage. Not just that, if economic choices are divorced from a strategic context, it could lead the country down a very dangerous path. The real debate is not whether we should be an open or a protected economy. It is whether we are an employment-centric and capability-driven one or just a profit-obsessed society content to be a market.
- India’s destiny is bigger than to be just a part of the future of others.
- The ‘just-in-time’ approach with its concentration in a limited geography showed how vulnerable the world could be in a crisis. De-risking the world economy now requires a ‘just-in-case’ outlook with more diversified production. Where India is concerned, this could mean another chance to board the bus of manufacturing that we had missed a few times before.
- For those who are starting off in life, I can only say that they have every reason to be more confident. India today has determination, vision as well as the perseverance to enhance its global standing. Those more experienced and part of our journey for the last 75 years will appreciate the transformation underway and value the outcomes that it has generated. But all of them would certainly share the conviction that today, even as the world enters a new era of turbulence, we matter more. And with the right leadership, we can definitely weather the storms and make the most of our opportunities.
- Personalities aside, the hard realities that underpin international relations are those of competition and benefits. For all the talk of globalization and common good, nations still calculate unsentimentally what is to their particular advantage. The world may be changing but, in some respects, the more it does, the more it remains the same.
- There is no question that we have now slipped into a different culture of diplomacy, one with less inhibitions and greater coercion. Among the key developments of the last decade has been the weaponizing of the routine. It could be trade, tourism, connectivity or finance. As a result, everything needs to be hedged against now.
- We cannot be oblivious either to structural obstacles created by a world order devised more than 75 years ago. The heart of the matter is that in those crucial years, India was either present nominally on the high table or not there at all. Especially because of what happened to it in 1947, India consequently operates in a world where the dice is often loaded against it. Indeed, its rise in the last seven decades is really a story of changing the terms of engagement with the world, many of which were particularly adverse when it started this journey. The problem is not one that can be quantified economically; it is even more that of assumptions and narratives. The world order consists of institutions and practices that are often closely interlocked. They determine what is politically correct and what is not. And because its key players have not only built an architecture to serve their purpose but still retain the influence to promote it, a power like India will have to swim upstream for a long time to come.
- For a nation like India, it is to be expected that there will be rivers and mountains to cross as it moves towards becoming a leading power. Some of them could be direct challenges, others a product of larger circumstances. There could be recurring issues, as indeed Lord Rama was to experience with the demon Maricha. At the end of the day, the rising of a power is an exercise in perseverance, endurance and mental strength. If we are to look for a contemporary reflection of these events where India is concerned, this may be in building its infrastructure, upgrading its human resources, countering territorial challenges, developing deep strengths, exercising the nuclear option and improving the quality of governance. As it moves on to the next stage of its rise, India, too, needs to broaden its vistas, be more aware of competitors and strengthen its comprehensive national power.
- By raising the definition of basic amenities and, more importantly, delivering on them, India is rapidly changing the quality of life of one-sixth of the world. Depending on the country concerned, it is perceived by them as an innovator, producer, contributor or exemplar. Each one of these attributes make it a more attractive partner in international relations.
- Developing the boldness and fortitude to advance one’s prospects is almost as hard as growing actual capabilities. Learning to compete at increasingly higher levels does require confident leadership and systemic changes. As stakes get higher, it is also necessary to outthink competitors and outlast mindgames. Each phase in a power’s rise has different benchmarks and changing peer groups.
- India’s rise is a relentless exercise where the sensible only pause to take stock, never to declare victory. Without neglecting the past, it works best when our eyes are fixed firmly on the horizons and we read the international situation right as well as fashion our strategies and tactics accordingly. But to do all this and more, it is essential that Bharat is true to itself, its interests and its ambitions.
- In life, there is always a next time and diplomacy must never foreclose possibilities.
- The days when India could stir itself episodically while allowing processes to make their own progress are now behind us. Our interests are only expanding with time, and so must our activities and profile. The task before us is to lay the foundations in the Amrit Kaal for India to not only be a developed nation but also a leading power.
- British politics is often driven by vote-bank considerations, though not to the extreme extent of Canada. And this has given space for secessionist forces targeting India to operate from its soil and misuse its freedoms. Ideological hostility in influential quarters against the current dispensation in India has also added to irritants. Some are visibly so resentful of changes in India that they do not wish to understand the reality.
- The last three decades have seen the autonomous evolution of both Russia and India. They may have forged partnerships with others that may not always be convergent. Their own bilateral balance and equation have also developed with time. Yet, there appears to be a continued intersection of interests built on a legacy of goodwill that shapes their thinking about each other. What has made a difference is that they have taken great care even in a changing world not to act in a manner that adversely affects the core interests of the other.
- India’s relationship with the West as a whole needs an objective evaluation. In many ways, this group is a natural partner because its members share the attributes of a pluralistic society, democratic polity and market economy. Yet, this very commonness can also create its own frictions. The continuing hegemonism visible in many quarters in the West leads to an excessive advocacy of their particular practices and convictions. Often, it is lost on them that others have different traditions, practices and yardsticks, and that the West itself would not necessarily come out well if they were evaluated objectively and publicly. Moreover, these attitudes do not stop at advocacy and extend to promoting an actionable agenda as well. That comes into conflict with post-colonial polities like India, which are reasserting their identities and standing their ground.
- India may be non-West but must realize that there is little profit in being anti-West.
- At a time when much of the world has fallen back to a nationalism of an earlier era, enlightened Indian interests dictate that it puts even greater emphasis on internationalism. This is made easier by the fact that in Indian tradition, there has never been tension between the two.
- India has now entered a new phase of a multi-vector engagement that seeks to maximize outcomes and benefits. Its results have heightened its profile and changed its image. As a consequence, it is today perceived as a source of ideas, a champion of causes, a driver of initiatives and an advocate of consensus. No country or region is now seen as irrelevant to India’s global calculus.
- The US is undeniably the premier power of our times and will remain so. Indeed, such is its centrality to the current order that be it an ally, a competitor, the agnostic or the undecided, none of us can really be indifferent to its posture.
- Among the many issues that India has to address in its endeavour to ascend in the world order, the relationship with China undoubtedly presents the most complex problem.
- For various reasons, China has not given the same regard to India’s rise as the rest of the world. In their ties, the present is very much shaped by the past, whether we speak of the ground situation, national power or even sentiment. And the past is not without its share of problems.
- In a world of constraints and risks, nations now penetrate and influence rather than directly confront each other. So, if the threats are different, our defences must be too. And that starts with greater awareness of our times. There was an era when we thought of security essentially as policing, law and order, intelligence and investigation. We would stretch it understandably to counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism and border defences. As an extreme case, our thoughts perhaps extended to military conflict. Today, however, you might want to think that through again. Life is not what it used to be; neither are its challenges.
- A lot of our security threats are gradual and corrosive, not necessarily blunt trauma. If our nation’s unity and integrity is weakened and alternative loyalties created, should we remain indifferent? If sympathy, succour and support are given abroad to separatists in the name of democratic freedoms, should we display equanimity? When national development, especially critical infrastructure, is impeded, do we show indifference? When influence operations are undertaken to shape societal thinking, can we really afford to be complacent? If policy choices for an open economy lead to de-industrialization and external dependence, what does it say for our future?
- When it comes to security, doing more and doing better is no longer enough. India needs to do things differently and that means thinking differently. Enhancing security today requires re-imagining it.
- Any objective global assessment now has to recognize the prospect of uninhibited competition among nations, especially the major ones. What that essentially means is that they have not only developed many more capabilities and influence but are also more inclined to exercise them. It is expressed through visible linking of sectors that were generally regarded as autonomous. Business, energy and finance are treated as intrinsic to strategy, as are sports, tourism, education and politics. Norms and firewalls have fallen by the wayside in that process, as have assumptions of what is fair or acceptable.
- Rising powers typically face narrative challenges from the established views of early movers. In the world of ideas, they seek to define political correctness and make that universal. Often, external interests are strongly aligned with local elite with whom there is a mutual understanding. Our own experience in recent years has revealed how good governance can be distorted as excessive state control or how anarchy and worse are justified as exercise of democratic rights. A polity that is oblivious to such practices is a society in danger.
- Today, we may be exporters of many products and, indeed, a key producer of vaccines. But none of this should obscure the danger of a large society like India depending on others for basic needs. The attitude of states at a time of extreme stress offers lessons that we ignore at our peril. But if we get it right, it can facilitate the building of capacities that trigger their own virtuous cycle.
- Let us be clear: India can only be consequential abroad if it has adequate capacities at home. It is not our fate to be just a market for goods or a generator of data for others. A rising India will only really advance when it is an atmanirbhar Bharat.
- In the pursuit of globalization, we have been driven by short-term calculations and tactical gains. India imported to consume, trade and profit rather than to absorb, innovate and produce. The contrast with East Asia could not be starker. The over-leveraging of low-cost options from outside obviously eroded domestic manufacturing. Quite unconsciously, we began to perceive in the efficiencies of others a solution for our own limitations. And with that, the cause of reform remained at a level that was comfortable for the order of the day. If self-assessments remained positive, it was because they were based on benchmarking ourselves against our own past rather than vis-à-vis competitors. By the second decade of this century, these realities have caught up with us. It has led to a growing realization that globalization without a strategy is like driving without a destination. And the true yardstick for reform can only be its impact on comprehensive national power.
- Let us understand that in a world where trade wars and technology battles are likely to be more commonplace, de-industrialization is truly akin to unilateral disarmament. Therefore, making it easier to do business is not just an economic objective, it has enormous social and even strategic implications.
- Much of what was long assumed to be the tenets of Indian foreign policy is actually the predilection of the first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru. And this was so because he comprehensively dominated the scene for two decades.
- More than any other figure of contemporary India, Patel symbolizes strategic clarity and decisive action in the midst of difficulties. Not just that, he is also closely associated with nation-building and systemic reform. For all these reasons, he emerges as a natural inspiration for New India.
- We must learn that national security can never take second place, least of all to the quest for prestige. In the final analysis, hard power will always score over soft power. Ideally, the two should be in lock-step, so that capabilities and influence grow side by side. But the desire for acceptance, particularly by competitors, should never become a significant driver of diplomacy.
- India can matter by just being there, as a market place, as a contested ground, a resource or a platform. Indeed, as it did during colonial times. This breeds a survival mentality that, at best, can graduate to a transactional one. But India can also matter through the power of its ideas and actions as an engine of the global economy, a hub of innovation or a democracy that delivers. That is the course of destiny, and its ambitious path requires deep determination and strong perseverance. The debates within our society will decide which road is finally taken. As a nation, choices are becoming increasingly stark. The progress of the last decade points to hope and optimism, while the old order highlights our insecurities and underlines the divides. Indians, of course, must be conscious that the world has a lot riding on our decisions. Those who wish us well will endeavour to cooperate. Others who see our rise less favourably will obstruct, if not do worse. Either way, we must be prepared for those who will participate in our discourse, even intervene in pursuit of their interests.
- Part of why India counts is obvious. For a start, it represents a sixth of humanity. So, its successes and shortcomings have clear global connotations. But for Partition, India, and not China, would have been the largest society in living memory. The case for India is, however, more than just one of demography. For it is among the few civilizational states that has survived the ravages of history. Such polities are distinguished by a different level of culture and heritage, with accompanying attitudes and mindset as well. They take the long view, especially in regard to global issues. Many of their goals and objectives also build on traditions that are not readily shared by contemporary peers. Simply put, there is not only a scale and history but an exceptionalism about India that makes it matter.