R-Day ramifications: Not just look, but ‘Act East’

The optics on our 69th Republic Day this year was unmistakable as the heads of ten ASEAN states descended, one by one, from their limousines on Rajpath. In alphabetical order by the names of their countries, they are Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos, Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, first incumbent State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, President Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha of Thailand, and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam.

This is the first time in the history of this grandest of parades celebrating our nation, that not one or even two, but ten heads of states participated as chief guests. Despite our “Look East” policy first articulated by Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in 1991, many of these important leaders are little known, even less heard of in India. But thanks to the special commemorative summit on “Shared Values, Common Destiny” held on January 25 as well as their appearance on our Republic Day, they have become almost household names today.

This meeting celebrating 25 years of Indo-ASEAN cooperation was carefully prepared for. In his speech on November 13 last year at the landmark Manila summit marking the 50th year of ASEAN’s establishment, Modi said, “We wish to build land, sea and air connectivity to this dynamic region. Work is already on in the construction of the trilateral highway through Myanmar and Thailand to connect to other countries in South East Asia.” He also emphasized that he looked forward to welcoming all the ten leaders of ASEAN nations on Republic Day.

Coming close on the heels of his impressive debut at Davos on January 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proven once again that he is a leader of global importance. In Davos, he offered a fitting riposte to the previous year’s plenary speaker Chinese President Xi Jinping. The latter’s Sino-centric formula of saving the liberal world order was akin to soothing “snake oil …salve to the western soul, hurting from a Trumpian blow,” as a commentator put it wittily. Modi, in contrast, offered an India-inspired, as opposed to an India-centric alter-globalisation, based on the Upanishads, Yoga, Tagore and Gandhi. Modi’s appeal for “a cooperative, harmonious, sharing and caring world” was sweet revenge for a man, who was not only denied visas to the UK and USA, but also “disinvited” from Davos.

But it is not enough to see Modi’s Indo-ASEAN moves merely as an attempt to counter-balance China’s dominance in the region with its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.From being merely dialogue partners, India and ASEAN must now become strategic partners. This is the message that the Indian Prime Minister wants to send out loud and clear to the nearly 2 billion people who form the Indo-ASEAN region. For instance, when it comes to Singapore alone, India is a both “a leading destination and source of investments.” Currently, there are nearly 250 direct weekly flights from India to Singapore.

Beside innumerable economic and strategic advantages to India and ASEAN from such conventions, plans, and proposals, we must not underestimate the enormous goodwill, in addition to the publicity generated not just in India but also in each of these ten countries by this bold move by Prime Minister Modi. No wonder he emphasised on the over five million-strong Indian diaspora in the region, as well as our cultural ties, not only going back centuries but still living today in shared Ramayana and Buddhist traditions.

While his detractors and critics in India spare no occasion to taunt and mock him, the world is taking note not only of Modi but of the new India that is emerging under his leadership. The poverty of imagination, not to speak of the churlish envy and ungracious lack of sportsmanship on the part of the opposition only shows their self-loathing and lack of vision. Modi simply ignores them and marches on to a different drumbeat, inspired by a different idea of India.

Of course, in the real world, mere optics or posturing won’t do. As visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gently reminded us during his recent six-day historic visit, India will benefit more from hard power than soft power. The latter, of course, requires long-term strategic thinking, leadership, and institution-building. Ironically, while our stature rises on the world stage, at home our soft state shows itself incapable or unwilling to reign in our own domestic disruptions. However, such are our paradoxes, which we must accept but not condone, on this Republic Day.

The author is a poet and professor at JNU. Views expressed are personal