India’s Tryst With Destiny: Time to Get Real

For most Indians, deep in their psyche is embedded a belief that a global role for India is part of its tryst with destiny. The roots of this international vision can be traced back to ancient history — among empires and rulers that emerged from the land that is modern India to those that came to make it their home. Even today, the echoes of this past reverberate in the international affairs of the modern Indian republic. So how have the leaders of modern India conceptualised the country’s place in the world? How have their views of power and order evolved? More significantly, what opportunities and challenges does the current distribution of power globally present for India. In this episode of The Great Power Show, Manoj Kewalramani speaks to Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director of ORF America, and author of the excellent new book Vishwa Shastra: India and the World. Jaishankar argues that the world today reflects aspects of unipolarity, bipolarity, and multipolarity at the same time. Such an environment calls for a realist vision of India’s approach to the world, he contends, arguing that historical evidence shows that whenever interest was subordinated to values in Indian foreign policy, it has served the country poorly. Within this context, he outlines a vision for India’s engagement with the US, China and world at large. About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.