A BANKER-turned-political thinker, Shaurya Doval has been part of concerted efforts in the past nine years to build an intellectual environment on nationalistic foundations. His India Foundation has emerged as a key think-tank devoted to promoting Indic thought on cultural, strategic and economic issues.
Edited excerpts from an exclusive interview:
Q / Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India is the ‘mother of democracy’. India is welcoming world leaders for the G20 summit using the same tag line. Why is this significant?
A / India is the world’s largest democracy. You do not find anywhere in the world 1.4 billion people living and working together as a democratic nation. There are other democracies―older democracies, newer democracies―but most of them are very small. [Considering] the size of India, the only comparable population is that of China, which is not a democracy. That is what makes India the ‘mother of democracy’ and a very unique human experiment.
Q / ‘Mother of democracy’ also harks back to India’s cultural history, and the democratic traditions in the country’s ancient past. Is it relevant today?
A / India came into existence as a new state in 1947, but India as a civilisation existed for thousands of years…. Therefore, it will be very myopic of India to use only 75 years of its experience and ignore thousands of years.
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Economic, military and technological rise has put India on the high table. India is already a G20 country, virtually a G7 country. The world listens to whatever India says. What India does is going to have an impact on the world, from climate change to military manoeuvres.
So, the question is, when India comes onto the global stage, does it have anything new to say? I think colonisation has overshadowed thousands of years of India’s wisdom. We have lessons that the world can greatly benefit from.
Q / Critics talk about democracy being on the decline in India.
A / I think it is a very shallow statement to make. Democracy in India is alive and robust. It is growing every day.... India has got 75 years of democracy that is working. We change governments with different ideologies and philosophies peacefully, from the Centre to the panchayat level. So when people say democracy is under threat, I think they are being very reactive.
Q / A part of your work is to promote Indic thought and India’s cultural traditions through your think-tank. How far have you been successful?
A / I think we as a country are succeeding and, obviously, my think-tank is a small part in that. But if you look around the country, in the past nine years, there is a huge amount of cultural revivalism happening. The ability to draw on India’s cumulative wisdom is shaping India’s outlook, and the world’s outlook―whether it is yoga, ayurveda or promotion of Indian languages.
Q / Which is, at times, referred to as a right-wing thought?
A / These labels of right-wing and left-wing again comes from a borrowed thought of the west, where right-wing was associated with greater nationalism and greater role of the state. I don't think we can juxtapose that on India. We don't have any right or left, but I think that this is a view of a people who believed that India must look at itself with pride, India must look at itself with honour and India must look at itself with a long-term perspective. Against what some people thought – that we got everything from the west and, therefore, it is to the west that we must look for answers. This thought was dominant in this country after Independence. The [nationalistic] thought is now gaining traction, with the rise of the BJP.
Q / India’s economy is drawing attention as China appears to be on the decline. Your views?
A / India's economy is one of the strongest economies in the world. India today is a 3.5 trillion economy and what it has achieved in the last 75 years, it's going to double that in the next 10 years. When the British left us, we were a 30 billion economy. We will be a 30 trillion economy by 2047. That's a 1000-time increase in the GDP of a country in 100 years. And this, after 250 years of deep economic exploitation by the British. So, this is unprecedented in human history. Even China has not achieved this kind of growth under the aegis of democracy. We have proven to the world that you can economically grow while guaranteeing your people liberties, independence, democracy and taking everybody along.
Q / What are the challenges for the economy in the coming years?
A / One is very high labour force. We have about a million people joining the labour force every month that makes it about 12 million people a year. Absorption of this young population in a productive economy, which is heavily becoming technological dependent, becomes a significant policy challenge for the government. This is a serious issue which has implications for internal stability and security of our country. And even the quality of the lives of our citizens. So, the challenge is to deliver an employment-led economic growth. Second, is setting the balance distribution. There are parts of India which are growing excessively fast. There are other parts of India which aren't going that fast. We need a [balanced] approach, otherwise growth will become very skewed.
Q / When you engage with diplomats and other world leaders, how do they view India?
A / When Indians become proud and are confident of who they are, then the world also tends to look at them in a different light. I have seen how it has changed - from being seen as a country of snake charmers to being viewed as a country of technology. Now, India is being seen as a global power which is going to lead the world in the 21st century. This is not the view Indians have, but that of the world as evident from the respect India is receiving.
Q / Our aggressive neighbours, Pakistan and China, are a consistent cause of worry. How do we engage with them?
A / There has been a paradigm shift in PM Modi's tenure as India has clearly demarcated the red lines of how it deals with aggressive neighbours. One of them is that India will deal with them from a position of strength. India is no longer a receiver of their actions as in the past. India is a peaceful country, and wants peaceful and friendly relations with neighbours, but it cannot be a one-way street. If India is hurt, it will retaliate.
Q / You are also a BJP member. The opposition has come together for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Your views?
A / They won't be a credible challenge for us in 2024 as they don’t have anything new to offer to people. Their sole agenda is to keep BJP out of power. People have decided that Modi remains their best bet in the nation to deliver. The most amazing thing about PM Modi is his leadership. He is relentless. He is not slowing down. He is continuously raising the bar. He is already talking about 2047.
The way to defeat Modi would have been to come up with an alternative viewpoint which is more attractive to the people, and the people have to believe that they had the credibility to deliver it. But nobody takes them seriously.
Q / Are you ready to contest elections?
A / It all depends on what the party wants from me. If they give me an opportunity, I will be prepared for it.