India’s Neighbours View Us Not as ‘Vishwamitra’ but as Big Bully: Ramachandra Guha

In the eyes of its neighbours India is not Vishwamitra but Big Brother and bully: Historian, Author and Political Commentator, Ramachandra Guha, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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In recent months the Modi government has stopped calling India a Vishwaguru and started to refer to the country as a Vishwamitra. How should we explain and understand this sudden if not abrupt transition and change? Second, does the term Vishwamitra accurately characterize India’s relationship with its neighbours such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal? Or is it seriously mistaken because it masks reality and hides how they actually view our country? Those are the two key issues addressed by the well-known historian, author and political commentator, Ramachandra Guha, in this interview.



In this 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Ramachandra Guha not only talks about the “foolish fantasies” behind India’s claim to world leadership and how these seem to have been punctured after the conclusion of the G20 Summit last year but also discusses how the term Vishwamitra does not describe the way Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Nepalis view India. He analyses in telling terms how each of these countries has experienced numerous instances of political intervention as well as rhetorical boastfulness by India. Ramachandra Guha draws attention to aspects of our relationship with these three countries that, even if we are aware of, we tend to ignore and overlook. For the citizens of these three countries they remain dominant in terms of how they view India.



I will leave you to see the interview to get further details. You will find them eye-opening.



However, Ramachandra Guha points out that the Vishwamitra policy i.e. strategic generosity will not work with countries like Pakistan and China where the state itself is hostile to India. That is not the case with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.



Finally, Ramachandra Guha points out that India’s Big Brother attitude to its neighbours did not start with the Modi government – although it may have exacerbated under it. It stretches back all the way to Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact, towards the end of the interview, he speculates that the hubris and arrogance that lies behind the Big Brother attitude might be an innate part of the Indian character and may be a product of the way Brahmins view others as if they are inferior and unequal.



Again, I will leave you to watch the interview to get the details for yourself.

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