Context: This editorial is based on the news “Mapping India’s rise as a civilisational State” which was published in the Hindustan Times. Recently, ‘Why Bharat Matters’ book has been released by External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

About Why Bharat Matters’ Book: By Dr. S. Jaishankar

• Addresing  geopolitical challenges: It offers a dialectic between present-day geopolitical challenges and the ancient wisdom contained in the eternal Hindu epic, the Ramayana.
• Rediscovering  cultural roots: It 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.

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• Centrality of culture: It advocates the centrality of culture and core values in piloting a nation’s ascent in the international arena. 
• Setting own narrative: The antidote to the campaign to malign India’s image, the writer is of view to effectively communicate “our own narrative” and to invest in strategic communication at the international level.
• Analogy of India as the monkey god Hanuman: 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”.

Views on: China and West

• China: The writer has candidly taken on two principal opponents of India in this book— an expansionist, aggressive China
  • He disapproves of  illusions of strategic partnerships with China and traces these arguments to idealism of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
• West: India may be non-West but must realize that there is little profit in being anti-West”.

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Conclusion

The book “Why Bharat Matters” advocates 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.

Also Refer: West Asia: India’s Geopolitical Opportunity And Challenge

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