'Indians need to stop engaging in reverse snobbery'

Book release

Former diplomat Jaimini Bhagwati in conversation with Infosys non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani on Tuesday. DH photo/Pushkar V

Indians need to be wary of the assumption that the rise of the country as a superpower is inevitable in the next 20 years as the past tells us that many countries with promising economy ran aground, said former diplomat Jaimini Bhagwati.

He was speaking during the release of his book ‘The Promise of India’, which seeks to look at the way the prime ministers, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, shaped the country.

“Some elements among the majority Indians exult over an idealised, very possibly mythical golden past of ancient India. They need to stop engaging in this inverse snobbery,” he said.

Bhagwati’s remark comes in the wake of the talk of $5 trillion economy. He said India was at a stage similar to Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century but has plunged into one economic crisis after another.

Cynicism of the masses

“It is painful to see the cynicism that pervades the country during the election. The book seeks to look at foreign policy and national economy through the way the prime ministers sought to raise the cynicism of the masses,” he said.

Stressing the need for speaking truth to power, he slammed the officials, especially civil servants, “who prostrate” in front of a feudal and entitlement-infected political culture.

“Without Nehru at the helm, there may still have been an ‘idea of India’ but I’m not sure we would have had an undivided nation-state of India today. There is so much that comes out in the media today,” he said, noting that it was important to understand the past to understand the present.

He noted that Nehru-era was marked by the rise of hopes, which changed since Indira Gandhi came to power. “To say ‘Nehru-Gandhi’ regime in the same breath is a mistake since the father and daughter were as different as day and night,” he said.