Today’s India is different from Nehru’s era : Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs

Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs

London (United Kingdom) – During an interaction entitled ’How a Billion People See the World’ at the Royal Over-Seas League in London on 16^th November, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar was asked if India had changed since the Nehruvian era to become less liberal under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government.

While asserting that India had certainly changed, Dr Jaishankar was categorical that the change did not mean India becoming less liberal but rather ‘more authentic’ about expressing its beliefs. He added, “Secularism for India does not mean being non-religious but an equal respect to all faiths. The appeasement Government policies of the past made the biggest religion of the country feel like it had to be self-deprecatory in the name of equality”.

In response to a question from journalist-author Lionel Barber, Dr Jaishankar replied, “Has India changed from the Nehruvian era ? Absolutely, because one of the assumptions of that era, which very much guided the thinking of the polity and its projection abroad, was the way we define secularism in India”.

Dr Jaishankar referenced ‘appeasement’ as a very powerful word in the Indian political debate, which guided the direction in which politics went.

“More and more people started feeling that in a way, in the name of equality of all religions, the biggest religion had to be self-deprecatory and play itself down. A big part of that community felt it was not being fair”, Dr Jaishankar noted.

He said that the political and social changes seen in India in the past few years have partly been a reaction at an intellectual and political level to this sense of unfairness.

Referring to the activities of Khalistani activists in Canada, Dr Jaishankar said freedom of speech and expression comes with certain responsibilities, and the misuse of these freedoms and the toleration of such misuse for political purposes is very wrong.

He also referred to attacks on the Indian Mission and Consulate in Canada and the intimidation of Indian diplomats and said no action was taken by Canadian authorities against those responsible.