Retired IAS officer Shakti Sinha, who was private secretary to then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, on Saturday said post the COVID-19 lockdown India has moved from taker to giver, overcoming the challenges.
He was speaking at a panel discussion on “Post pandemic narratives: Reimagining the India way” after inaugurating the third edition of Mangalore Lit Fest here. Amidst the pandemic, India has shown its strength to China; produced the vaccine for COVID-19 and became a large supplier of the vaccine to the world, he said.
Mr. Sinha said COVID-19 had thrown many challenges, including China at the borders. However, the country was not hesitant and the sense of responsibility helped it to stop China from grabbing Indian territories. The lockdown, one of the strongest, helped preventing mass spread of COVID-19 and the country was at the threshold of becoming “Vishwa Guru,” Mr. Sinha said.
Former head of Research and Analysis Wing Vikram Sood spoke about the importance of narratives in bolstering power in the international geopolitics. Narratives bring a psychological impact that was rather unseen, he said giving the example of the narrative that the U.S. military being the strongest military in the world. In reality, Mr. Sood said the U.S. had not won a single war since 1940s. As such, narratives need not be in touch with the reality; yet they make a whole lot of difference in the way a country is perceived, he said.
Another panellist, MAHE UNESCO chair’s head Madhava Nalapat said narratives of India, including ancient heroes, had given the status of mythology by the colonisers whereas in the West, the tales of Alexander and Julius Caesar were still being given primary importance. Stating that India has premise for great narratives while the country stands for Vasudaiva Kutumbakam. Prof. Nalapat said China feared the potential of India and hence, attempts to decapitate the country to become an economic power.
Stating that the days of non-alignment movement were gone, another panellist Dattesh Prabhu from Goa University said the country was matured to take independent stance on global issues. MAHE professor M.S. Nanda Kishor moderated the session.
