Joseph S Nye,
American political scientist, mooted the concept of ‘soft power’ as a means of
gaining ascendancy in the world.
Military and economy give a country its hard power. Soft power is its ability to persuade other
countries to want what it wants them to want.
Mr Modi is
getting the support of many countries against Pakistan using persuasive tactics
as well as realpolitik. He is relying
more on soft power and rightly so. No
one but perverted minds would want a war especially between India and Pakistan
because such a war is most likely to escalate into a world war.
Soft power can
be effective only when it rests solidly on the foundation of substantial hard
power. It is also related to culture and
ideology. The Western civilisation
spread rapidly across the world because it was firmly established on a secure
hard power foundation. America was a
practical El Dorado.
Russia’s
communism crumpled when its hard power hit the dust. Soft power becomes impotent without the
material backing of hard power. No
culture, no ideology can survive without that simple, practical and material
back-up of the hard power.
India is able
to get at least the support of some countries against Pakistan because of its
fairly good hard power. Pakistan cannot
challenge India at the same level because its hard power is much inferior. And its soft power is backed not by the
appropriate hard power but by criminal minds that call themselves religious
people. It is quite a different matter
that the line which divides religion and criminality is very thin. Have you ever wondered why the greatest
saints were the foulest sinners before their conversion?
I think Mr
Modi is leading India in the right direction as far as the Pak threat is concerned.
Source: Global Hunger Index |
However, Mr
Modi should not forget that India has serious internal issues. Hunger is one. The Global Hunger Index puts
India below Mali, Malawi, Uganda and even Vietnam. The Prime Minister should not
ignore the ignominious conditions prevailing within the country while he is
dealing with the nefarious neighbour.
Mr Modi
declared in Feb this year that “the total revenue loss from incentives to corporate tax payers was over Rs 62,000
crore.” Why should we keep on feeding
the rich like this? Why not make the
rich care for the poor? Why not make the
Ambanis and Adanis sponsor some starving villages in the country? We can honour them with Bharat Ratna or some
such award for their humanitarian services later? I hope Mr Modi will use his “soft power” for
such “charity at home.”
In India the gap between haves and have nots must be huge, even as we are going to celebrate the platinum jubilee of our independence after a few years.
ReplyDeleteAnd that gap is a serious problem. Logically it can mean the extinction of a whole lot of people. Survival of the fittest will work.
DeleteVery thoughtful...... and I hope Modiji must have plans for the internal problems we are facing right now....
ReplyDeleteYou can eliminate poverty by eliminating the poor. That's not a great plan.
Deleteनोटबंदी के बाद डिजिटल पेमेंट पर जोर, जानें क्या है डिजिटल पेमेंट
ReplyDeleteReadmore Todaynews18.com https://goo.gl/BgzxC9