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Cinema, Yoga & Modi- Reinventing India's Soft Power

India- the terra firma of a billion dreams,

but one dream that coalesces us all;

lettered in the Maha Upanishads- the yearning to make India a nation that can unite the global village we live in.

But when will this reverie supervene?


Some say our time will come when we become a military power,

whilst others focus on economic prowess and pecuniary growth.

Howbeit, the answer lies not just in hard power;

an epoch will come when we are able to shape the decisions of other sovereign states and homo sapiens at large,

based on our propensity to sensitise and attract them to idea of India.


Originally chronicled in the Vedic texts as ‘Sama’ and then prolifically practised and prosaically articulated by the father of realpolitik- Kautilya, this term is best comprehended by today’s diplomats as ‘soft power’.


The earliest signs of the use of this saccharine toxicant date back to the Indus Valley civilisation with multitudinous array of Indus seals having been discovered in Mesopotamia,

Harappan scripts being studied in the Egyptian civilization

&

cultural emissaries sent to promote conviviality.

An indispensable prerequisite of making India, the ‘sone ki chidya’ it once was; was up until recently, an almost obliterated element of statecraft only reserved for indagation in circles of Lutyens Delhi where walking the talk is as utopian as some deem the concept to be.


The concomitants of the renaissance, initiation of Alliance Françoise and the American explication of Human rights and liberalism have in recent times been successful anecdotes of the use of this theory by the west. Despite being our neighbour, the juxtaposition could not be more conspicuous- with the Confucius Institute and through the use of Government Organised Non Government Organisations; the Chinese Dragon is also significantly ahead of the Indian Tiger.


Ironically- a land that contrived Ayurveda, zero and helped prove the most germane bedrock of the concept true- a non-violent, non- coercive method of reifying independence does not feature in the Soft Power Global Index 2019.

The Beatles concert in 1971 held in solidarity of India’s actions in East Pakistan is one of the sporadic occasions in which the state actively proselytised Brand India. More than the callous attitude of westernised politicians in charge, was the disinterest of a bureaucracy which to date is predominantly resistant to change.


Whilst some of his policies and much of his politics are polarizing, the apodeictic reality is that India repositioned itself due to the efforts of a visionary Prime Minister- Narendra Modi.


Politics has always been about optics, every politician knows- that the world is a stage, and men and women are merely players. But to visit 84 countries and parade everything Indian necessitated more than just a routine perusal of Shakespeare. Literature, art and cinema are prodigious proponents of spreading the idea of India much better than the ICCR or the government. From Peru to Perth and from Stockholm to Soweto, people are revelling in the wondrous performances of King Khan and the mellifluent tunes of AR Rahman.


Exporting goods and services of Indian MNCs is as important as projecting the idea of a numinous society which was the provenance of 3 major religions- Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.

India- A pluralist inclusive democracy- is as diverse in its beliefs as it is in its food- the concept of vegetarianism and veganism emanated from this country- and for everyone else- we’ve got butter chicken..:)

Today, Yoga Day and Gandhi Jayanti have become international commemorations- an endeavour that took far too long to fructify- just as is the dire need to glocally promote Hindi, Kalidas and forgotten Indian arts.


On mindful consideration, one would learn that Google, Facebook, McDonalds, Dominoes and sporting jeans have remained in vogue due to a coalescence of assays. Whilst in my opinion, the state has a responsibility commensurate with the authority it wields in governance, it cannot do anything without the engagement of civil society. 6 years, 1481 crores later, a Prime Minister is attempting to reinstitute Brand India. Regardless, much is left to be done as the citizenry traverses politics of hatred and rampant red-tapism to bolster an image which is being increasingly scrutinized.


As Shashi Tharoor puts it- ‘If you do not know where you have come from, you will not know where you are going’


My solution: irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion or political belief- let’s rediscover our past and just as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi taught us- in one unified voice- let’s promote India’s International Movement to Unite Nations- satirically it also stands for I.I.M.U.N..:D


Jai Hind!

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sujitco
08 mars 2020

It’s a bitter truth , but have to be accepted by all Indians, that until now after Independence none of the person had really taken any initiative to make or revive India &

portray India on the map of the world to its old glory.

There’s only one man, who has truly visioned & is trying to do the same.

We all should be proud of MODI,

We should all support & help him to make this possible.

JAI BHARAT, JAI HINDUSTAN.


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