Bharat needs its own narrative to re-define international relations: Foreign minister S Jaishankar  

India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar said that India should re-define international relations and set its own narrative, rather than the one given by Western intellectualism.

Speaking at an international relations conference at Symbiosis International University in Pune, the minister said that the international relations lexicon is fitted with Western terminologies, like the ‘trojan horse, Gordian knots’, the concepts given by the British.

“In everyday life, we use terms like Pyrrhic victory, Gordian knots, trojan horse. These are not just used but we have universalised it in a way. Generally, intellectual concepts, traditions and constructs are largely British.”

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‘West has no problem with Chinese history ’

He added that while Western intellectuals have no problem in accepting the “5000-year-old unbroken Chinese history”, many of them would not give that same “privilege” and understanding to India.

“In fact, an extreme example of that was Churchill himself, who said that India was no more a country than an equator,” the diplomat-turned-politician said.

He said that it is imperative to think of our own Indian history, “Of what are we about… How have we got to where we are… What are the forces which drove us… I think it is important today to look at all of these, if necessary, with fresh eyes, with an open mind.”

“Even if the economics of the world may have shifted, the politics may be shifting, but if the culture doesn’t move alongside these shifts, then those shifts will always remain incomplete”.

‘Need to look at history with open mind’

He said that history must be looked at with fresh eyes and an open mind.

“If we put politics aside, and re-examine our near past, with an objective and dispassionate view, we will see that our record is much more complex and our thinking much more nuanced,” the minister said.

“Our future will never really bloom in that way unless we have our own cultural foundations. Today, Bharat needs its own narrative. If we are to be one of the voices of the global south, if rebalancing is to get more traction, if we are to see a significantly different world in the next 50 years, it is highly important that we address not just the economics and the politics and the technology of the world, but also look at the cultural history, traditions, political science and international relations,” Jaishankar added.