284. Bridging Divides

BIC TALKS

In a world where more and more people burrow deeper into the silos of their way of thinking, the separation from an understanding of another view, much less an appreciation, is shrinking. In a healthy society, the moderate middle continues to grow at the expense of fringes competing against each other in deepening the wells of hate and misunderstanding. As a consequence, the reality of each of us, of all of us, belonging to a common humanity gets lost.

Three decades ago, it was pointed out by author and professor of geopolitics, Prof. Nalapat that the cultural DNA of the people of India is a fusion of the Vedic, the Mughal and the Western, something that was termed “Indutva”. No strand can stand alone, and yet not just within countries but between countries, there are outlier states that believe they and they alone have the right to assume primacy, even dominance, over the rest.

In the 1930s in Europe, such a state, because it remained unchallenged throughout that decade, ignited a world war. The 21st century must not witness a similar holocaust, and such an outcome is preventable only through the coming together of those committed to the equality of nations and to a free, open and inclusive Global Commons that includes the entirety of the Indo-Pacific.

In his book, Cold War 2.0, Professor Madhav Das Nalapat presents both the danger as well as the deterrent. What happened in the 1930s must not be repeated in the 2030s. The time for prevention is now.

This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from a lecture that took place inthe BIC premises in October 2023.

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