'Colonisation overshadowed ancient Indian wisdom': Shaurya Doval

A BANKER-turned-political thinker, Shaurya Doval has been part of concerted efforts in the past nine years to build an intellectual environment on nationalistic foundations. His India Foundation has emerged as a key think-tank devoted to promoting Indic thought on cultural, strategic and economic issues.

Edited excerpts from an exclusive interview:

Q / Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India is the ‘mother of democracy’. India is welcoming world leaders for the G20 summit using the same tag line. Why is this significant?

A / India is the world’s largest democracy. You do not find anywhere in the world 1.4 billion people living and working together as a democratic nation. There are other democracies―older democracies, newer democracies―but most of them are very small. [Considering] the size of India, the only comparable population is that of China, which is not a democracy. That is what makes India the ‘mother of democracy’ and a very unique human experiment.

Q / ‘Mother of democracy’ also harks back to India’s cultural history, and the democratic traditions in the country’s ancient past. Is it relevant today?

A / India came into existence as a new state in 1947, but India as a civilisation existed for thousands of years…. Therefore, it will be very myopic of India to use only 75 years of its experience and ignore thousands of years.

Economic, military and technological rise has put India on the high table. India is already a G20 country, virtually a G7 country. The world listens to whatever India says. What India does is going to have an impact on the world, from climate change to military manoeuvres.

So, the question is, when India comes onto the global stage, does it have anything new to say? I think colonisation has overshadowed thousands of years of India’s wisdom. We have lessons that the world can greatly benefit from.

Q / Critics talk about democracy being on the decline in India.

A / I think it is a very shallow statement to make. Democracy in India is alive and robust. It is growing every day.... India has got 75 years of democracy that is working. We change governments with different ideologies and philosophies peacefully, from the Centre to the panchayat level. So when people say democracy is under threat, I think they are being very reactive.

Q / A part of your work is to promote Indic thought and India’s cultural traditions through your think-tank. How far have you been successful?

A / I think we as a country are succeeding and, obviously, my think-tank is a small part in that. But if you look around the country, in the past nine years, there is a huge amount of cultural revivalism happening. The ability to draw on India’s cumulative wisdom is shaping India’s outlook, and the world’s outlook―whether it is yoga, ayurveda or promotion of Indian languages.

To read the full interview

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