Heres a presentation that Sandeep Balakrishna shared with us based on his talk on Dec 15 during Jijnasa Charcha.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Jijnasa - Charcha - 15 Dec 2012
Jijnasa
under the series Charcha, organizes a debate on
"Perspectives in Studying Indian History"
Date: 15 Dec 2012
Time: 5 PM
Venue: Seminar Hall, Legislator's House, Bangalore
Date: 15 Dec 2012
Time: 5 PM
Venue: Seminar Hall, Legislator's House, Bangalore
Debate will follow a talk by Sandeep Balakrishna.
Speaker Profile:
Sandeep B has been an IT professional for more than 16 years in various roles as a user experience specialist and communications professional. He is a columnist with Kannada Prabha. He has in the past written for Pioneer news-paper too. He runs a popular blog "Rediscovering India" (www.sandeepweb.com) which has been around for 13 years.
Speaker's write-up on the topic:
Ever since the British started studying india's history the discipline has been almost wholly Eurocentric. For the last century or so Indians have been learning about India using theories, tools, methodologies, & indeed the very approach, given to them by the West.
This has predictably led to confusions & compounded by wholesale distortions by Marxists, the scenario is grim today. As someone said, whoever controls the past also controls the future. The protracted battle to control the history department in the HRD ministry in the 1990s shows how well people in power understand this.
It's therefore urgently crucial to try & change how we even approach the study of Indian history by exploring a few basic, alternate perspectives in this direction.
Note: This event will not be telecast live on Jijnasa Ustream Channel. We encourage our audience and interested folks to please come to venue in person and join the debate.
About Jijnasa:
The literal meaning of the word Jijnasa in Sanskrit is Inquiry. Jijnasa is a platform under the aegis of CESS, which is an effort to promote the quest for knowledge.
It is hard to obtain the company of the noble.
It is easy to obtain the company of the ignoble.
Pebbles are available in plenty; but it is hard to obtain the precious diamond.
India is not just a nation state but a civilization state. A civilization that prides itself for the spirit of inquiry, and is not based on a contrived belief system or historicity. A civilization that is firmly rooted in Dharma. A civilization that has much to offer and inspire the world.
However, our ignorance about ourselves is profound. It is therefore Jijnasa’s desire to invoke the spirit of inquiry, which can set people on the journey of self discovery. Its aim is to provoke and equip people to see things beyond the limited mainstream discourse on issues of national importance and seek solutions to contemporary issues facing the country.
It is important to understand ourselves before we can understand the issues around us. Enlightened individuals make for an assertive society, which has the womb to carry traditions along with modernity. Jijnasa’s attempt is to make fellow travelers discover the heterogeneity of the Indian traditions yet the cohesiveness that has stood us in good stead for several thousand years. At the core of Jijnasa, is the desire to build an innate ability to see the world from an exalted position, which is so essential for a country aspiring to play center stage in world affairs.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Bhagyalakshmi Temple Issue - Facts Revealed
This is a cross-post from Centre Right India where Jijnasa team member K V Sarma J detailed some facts behind the Bhagyalakshmi Temple Issue. Please read.
Who was Quli Qutb Shah?
Books citing Bhagya Lakshmi Temple’s existence for a long time
1961 Census Data
Questions unanswered by The Hindu
Role of ASI
References
Recent controversy surrounding Charminar and the abutting
Bhagyalakshmi Temple has been a talking point among the AP media circles for
some time now. Media concentrated on whether or not the government of AP will
fall after MIM took High Court judgement ruling in favour of the temple trust
in a very bad taste. Swami Paripoornananda Saraswati’s visit to the temple was
not handled well by the police, who had no reason to stop him from going to do
the planned puja. MIM took opportunity of the situation. Result was riots and
violence in Old city immediately after Friday prayers at Makka and Jama Masjids.
Within a few days of riots, The Hindu came up with an old
photograph showing that the temple structure never existed. As expected, this
led to a lot of speculation so much so that The Hindu had to release a note asserting
the authenticity of the pic (which looked a lot like tampered with) that it was
a standard procedure in 60s. In that note, the Hindu even pointed to a pic from
1989 showing how the structure became what it is today. Surely, as The Hindu
asks, ASI has a lot to answer.
There is no so much of an issue with The Hindu’s data. There
is however, a lot to ask about The Hindu’s analysis. Somehow, The Hindu left
out lot of details. What came out of a persistent search just with digitized
documents and data available on the web is startling.
Who was Quli Qutb Shah?
Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah was a king from the Shahi dynasty.
There is a lot of excruciating detail about him in history school text
books. However, they don’t mention like
Sahitya Akademi’s book “Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah”
by Masud Khan that he was born to a Hindu mother. This book gives historical
evidence which contradicts the theory that “Bhagmati is a myth”. Bhagmati did
exist. Details come out from Qutb Shah’s shers
(poems in urdu) too[1].
From what we get to know, Qutb Shah even speaks of
“celebrating Basant”, describes his lover as “padmini” (a classification of
women in hindu texts). The influence of Hindu culture on Qutub Shah seems
unmistakable. As Masud Khan explains in his book, Qutb Shah wrote:
I left my own faith and adopted
the path of this religion
I was brought up in the lap of
a gracious Hindu mother [Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah by Masud Khan Page 11,12]
the path of this religion
I was brought up in the lap of
a gracious Hindu mother [Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah by Masud Khan Page 11,12]
Records indicate that Quli Qutb Shah built Hyderabad for
Bhagmati[2]. But there are other versions
of the story too[3]. Dr. Sherwani’s
theory is relatively a new one. Most of the European travellers refer to the
story of Bhagmati in their travelogues. Masud Khan rejected this thesis citing
number of documents talking of Bhagmati (called Bhagyavati in many other
records too) and Qutb Shah. In fact, the role of Hindus in Golconda and
Hyderabad is a matter of detailed study in various books and research works[4, 5]. Dharmendra Prasad too confirms it as he narrates
the story of Akkanna and Madanna who rose in ranks under Shahi kings in 17th
century due to their sheer efficiency and skill[7].
Given such close ties between Hindus and Muslims, one tends
to ask “what are the chances that Qutb Shah in fact consecrated a stone in a
corner of Charminar as either start or conclusion of the construction work?”
Not only these research works, but also records of European
travellers indicate that Bhagmati story and the name Bhagyanagar are in fact
true [7,8,9,10,11].
Hyderabad is variously referred to as Bagnaggur, Bhagnagar, Baghnagar in all
these travelogues of the European travellers. Bhagyalakshmi temple therefore
remains a direct link for every Hindu in Hyderabad to Hindu history of
Hyderabad.
Books citing Bhagya Lakshmi Temple’s existence for a long time
There are many books that quote the existence of Bhagyalakshmi
Temple since Charminar’s time. S K Ghosh in his book “Indian Democracy
Derailed” notes that the temple was built by Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah for
Bhagmati who was a harijan and that a harijan remained trustee[Page
number 74]. Given that S K Ghosh’s book came from Law Research Institute,
it gathers even more importance.
Another important book that cites the existence of the
temple is Asgharali Engineer’s “Communal riots in
Post-Independence India”. Asgharali Engineer acknowledges the existence of
the temple but states that the structure came up in 1970 after a Muslim APSRTC
bus driver drove a bus at the temple. The bus driver was suspended from service[Page
Number 291, 292]. In a very surprising recent statement according to Siasat
Daily, PCC General Secretary G Niranjan pointed out that the idols were indeed
there and that it was Marri Chenna Reddy who ordered the construction of a
structure through Endowments department[12].
Endowments department lists temples that generate an annual
revenue of less than five lakh rupees under classification 6c[13]. AP Endowments lists the Bhagyalakshmi Temple
under section 6c which means that at least since the structure was constructed,
Government of AP has been receiving revenue under the list “temples that
generate revenue less than 5 lakh rupees”[14].
Prior to 1987 endowments act, 1966 Endowments Act was in force[15]. However, Endowments reports (if they exist)
are not available in digital format. An RTI in this regard may help. However,
given that RTI can reject an application citing sensitivity of the information
as a reason, there are chances that information is not provided.
There are at least two other books which note that a temple
was existing in the same place - one
by Shashi Tharoor and another by Roshan
Dalal.
In Tharoor’s words : “But at the foot of the city’s most
famous monument, the four-turreted Charminar Charminar, sits a Hindu temple to
the goddess Mahalakshmi, the priests
chanting their mantra for centuries
under the celebrated Islamic minarets”.
Roshan Dala quotes a different story. He writes: “In a myth
associated with the Charminar in Hyderabad, Lakshmi is said to have fallen in
with a guard. The guard left, asking her to wait for him, and never returned,
so that Lakshmi continues to wait, and brings prosperity to the city”.
1961 Census Data
1961
Census Data is different from other Census data in one very important way.
1961 Census documented fairs and festivals across India. In the author’s
limited knowledge, it seems that 1961 census is the only census when such data
was collected and recorded. In 1961 Census, state specific data was collected.
In “Census of India 1961 Andhra Pradesh Volume II Part VII-B (13)”, data was
collected and recorded about temples, fairs and festivals in Hyderabad
district.
Google Books snippets indicate that there are at least 100
temples identified and recorded (this number could be more)[Page
number 161]. Also, within the book there are at least 21 pages with the
search key “Lakshmi temple”. This could be one pointer to whether or not the
temple was on records.
Questions unanswered by The Hindu
The Hindu was very quick off the block to paste several
photos of Charminar to prove their point – that the temple never existed. Several
uncomfortable questions come up given that Govt of AP has the temple in its
control under Endowments Act 1987.
·
The Hindu has been active in Hyderabad even as a
permanent structure was placed in 1970 by most probably the Endowments
Ministry. Why didn’t the Hindu raise any objections then?
·
It is public domain information that the temple
is classified under section 6c of the Endowments Act 1987 (probably even
earlier, which is not clear as of now). Why didn’t The Hindu find it
conflicting that the temple abuts and also poses a risk to a Ticketed Protected
Monument (as listed by ASI) and that the Govt should have considered debating
whether or not a permanent structure should be built?
·
It is also public domain information that every
Hindu knew that there was no structure before 1970. However, every Hindu
attached sanctity to the place as a worship place and an indication of Qutb
Shah’s affinity to Hindu worship. Didn’t The Hindu think they should have shown
some respect to the Hindus who thronged to the place after recent High Court
order?
·
Given that the temple is listed as a 6c temple
and that the Govt of AP has been collecting revenues from the temple (whatever
is the amount) since a long time (possibly even before 1970), is it right for
The Hindu to ask that the structure be removed? Many Hindus have grown
emotionally attached to this particular temple simply because it happens to be
a direct link to the Hindu history of Hyderabad which according to Masud Khan,
was deliberately obscured by Nizams.
The Hindu’s reporting in this particular case is contrasting
compared to its reporting and editorials in case of Babri Masjid. In both the
cases – Babri Masjid and Bhagya Lakshmi Temple – there is a clear encroachment
in real estate. In case of Babri Masjid, the Hindu seems to indicate that the
Masjid should stand despite it being an encroachment while in the case of
Bhagya Lakshmi Temple, it should go simply because there are photographs
showing the structure come into existence. In case of Babri Masjid, the
majority Hindus are expected to show magnanimity by offering the place to
Muslims but in the case of Bhagya Lakshmi Temple, minority Hindus should again
bow and step aside! This is the very discourse that has pushed several issues
bordering on faith in India into unresolvable conundrums.
Role of ASI
To put the role of ASI in perspective, because The Hindu
doesn’t consider the fact that the temple is controlled by the Endowments Act
1987, it gets to the conclusion that ASI is the one which is wrong. But once we
put Endowments Act in perspective, the conflict between ASI and GoAP comes out
strongly. This is not to say that ASI has done a perfect job. Many Hindu
temples too lie in dilapidated condition due to ASI’s insensitivity.
In fact, Endowments Report in 1960-1962 is another important
document which can reveal more about the status of this temple 50 years ago.
The best opportunity for Govt of AP was definitely when the first accident at
the temple happened in 1965. Unfortunately, neither GoAP nor ASI took it up.
Like with Babri, with the court’s order to maintain status quo, the issue is
slowly entering into a phase post which, the damage would be irreversible.
References
[3]
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=YPPiumz4vx0C&pg=PA1071&dq=bhagnagar&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TfSwUNDfF8zprQfUx4CgDA&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=bhagnagar&f=false
This author refers to Dr. Sherwani while Masud Khan rejected Sherwani’s theory.
[15] A judgement citing that
1966 charitable endowments act was repealed to introduce 1987 endowments act in
AP http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1777702/
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
VII Conference on "Dharma and Ethics"
Jijnasa, an initiative under Center for Educational and Social Studies (CESS), is deeply interested in activities centered around creating a philosophy for India in the context of its civilizational background.
CESS, Aarohi, Center for the Study of Local Culture (CSLC) and Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap organize the seventh conference on "Dharma and Ethics". The seventh conference will concentrate on The Travails of "Modernity"
Please find the details of the conference and contact persons below. If you are interested in participating, please respond with your details no later than 25Nov
Please download the brochure from Jijnasa GDrive
For details, contact:
Dr. Shanmukha A
Deputy Director,
Centre for the Study of Local Cultures
Kuvempu University 577 451, Shimoga
Ph: 08282 - 257316 (O)
+91-9448855082
cslcku@gmail.com
M. S. Chaithra
Director
“Aarohi” No192,
7th Main, 4th block,
Jayanagara, Bangalore
+919880142088
chaitra78@gmail.com
Deputy Director,
Centre for the Study of Local Cultures
Kuvempu University 577 451, Shimoga
Ph: 08282 - 257316 (O)
+91-9448855082
cslcku@gmail.com
M. S. Chaithra
Director
“Aarohi” No192,
7th Main, 4th block,
Jayanagara, Bangalore
+919880142088
chaitra78@gmail.com
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Jijnasa - 17th Nov - Ramananda Sengupta's Talk on China's rise
This is the text of the talk that Ramananda Sengupta delivered on 17th Nov at an interactive session organized by Jijnasa in Bangalore.
Let me begin with a confession.
I am not a China expert. I am sure there are many among
you who probably have forgotten more about China than I will ever learn.
Having said that, as a individual and as a journalist, I have
always been fascinated by this huge neighbor, this ancient civilization, with
whom we share almost 3,500 km border.
I recall my father talking about Sikh
deserters from the 1962 war who fled to Calcutta speaking in hushed fearful
tones about hordes of giant 9 feet tall Chinese soldiers, immune to Indian
gunfire, rushing down from the Tibetan slopes.
I think all of us here know that this is
the 50th anniversary of that war. It is also officially the Year
of India-China Friendship and Cooperation.
The world has changed dramatically in the
last half century.
But I would argue that despite, or perhaps
even due to, that war, we have not given China the attention it deserves.
Of course, we do remember it, and in fact
refight that war, each year around this
time, with reams of newspaper and television coverage: all asking the same
question: Could it happen again? Have we learnt our lesson?
But on a deeper level, we have not invested
in understanding and developing the empathy and learning that is required to
understand the Chinese way of thinking.
Let me cite an example: My first official
trip to China was as part of the media delegation accompanying President K R
Narayanan in April 2000. In that 9 day trip, apart from Beijing, we visited
Dalian in the northeast, (whose mayor at the time was Bo Xilai, who was recently was suspended from the
party's Central Committee and its Politburo, pending investigation
for “serious disciplinary violations.”) and Kumning in the Southwest.
In Beijing, we had a brief interaction with
members of some Chinese think tanks. One of them, (I think it was Dr Ma Jiali,
but can’t recall) remarked that while China was keenly interested in India,
India did not seem interested in China at all. To back it up, he noted that
while there was just a solitary Indian journalist (from PTI) covering the
entire People’s Republic of China, there were over 16 Chinese journalists in
India, including those from a TV channel. “all of them spies, no doubt,” murmured a
colleague next to me in Hindi. ‘Which only goes to prove my point,” responded our Chinese host who happened to
fluent in Sanskrit and Hindi. I found out later that all the dozen Chinese
scholars in that group, including two women, had studied Sanskrit, knew Hindi,
and some even Bengali and Tamil.
Today, 12 years later, we have four Indian
journalists in China, while China has at least a dozen or more journalists
in spread across India.
In a fascinating talk in Delhi earlier this
year, former foreign secretary and
eminent diplomat, ambassador Shyam Saran, said that part of this disconnect was
due to the fact that China had a ‘visual’ culture.
‘The
Chinese language has no alphabet. Each character is a word in itself and a
decent vocabulary requires memorizing at least three thousand characters. A
scholar may aspire to a vocabulary of five thousand,’ he said.
Some of these words have acquired nuances
which are indecipherable to an outsider. According to Ambassador Saran, ‘Even
to this day much of Chinese discourse is conducted through historical
analogies, some of which are explicit and well known. Some are artfully coded
and the language lends itself easily to innuendo and ambiguity.’
India,
on the other hand, has a aural or ‘oral’ culture, where history is handed down
orally first, and written down later.
‘This difference in civilizational
trajectory has its impact on how our two cultures perceive the world around us
and interact with one another,‘ he said.
The other important point that he made was
that ‘deception is an integral element of Chinese strategic culture…There is no
moral or ethical dimension attached to deception and the Chinese would find it
odd being accused of “betrayal”, in particular, if the strategy of deception had
worked…’
Face is very important for the Chinese, at
least the older generation. When I was running a series recalling 40 years
since 1962 for rediff.com, I was keen on getting a Chinese perspective. Among
others, a senior scholar from a Chinese
thinktank agreed, but cancelled at the last minute because he had to prepare
for a conference in Singapore. I wrote back saying that while I understood his
compulsions, I would lose face, because I had promised my editor that I would
have him write for us. Within half an hour, the professor’s secretary called to
say I could expect the article later in the evening, because the professor had
cancelled his flight to Singapore, because he did not want me to lose face
because of him!
As far as ‘interest’ goes, I had the
fortune of spending a lot of time with the late Mr JN Dixit, former foreign
secretary and National Security Adviser.
As the NSA, he led the Indian side at
the fourth round of high-level talks on the border issue with Dai
Bingguo, the Chinese Executive Vice-Foreign Minister and Special Representative
on the border issue. At a informal meeting later, he told me: ‘ I say,
these Chinese chaps have really done their homework..why can’t we?”
But that is easier said than done. How
indeed does one deal with the classic Chinese game of maps? “I want Tawang. So let’s lay claim to the
entire Arunachal Pradesh, and then negotiate backwards, all the while making it
seem like I am one making the concessions. I want a few islands in the South
China Sea, so let’s stake claim to the entire sea….” Which is what Beijing has done with a map called the 9dash9 map, comprising dashes
staking claim to 9 segments of the sea.
Of course, another reason why we are
struggling to understand China is the lack of information that comes out from
it. Despite that great equalizer, the Internet, and the challenge posed by
social media, China still remains a comparatively closed, insular society, and
the world mostly hears what the Chinese government wants it to hear. And even
then, you are expected to carefully read between the lines.
Speaking of lines, however, there is no
ambiguity about the clear red lines China has drawn on what it describes as its
core, non-negotiable issues: These include Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang, and
perhaps tracts of the South China Sea. These are territorial and sovereign
issues for which it officially willing to go to war.
The Chinese insecurity over these is clear
from the repeated assurances Beijing seeks from every capital that it adheres
to the One-China principle.
Beijing also has disputes over various island
chains in the South China seas with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and
Brunei, and of course, Japan. Extension of maritime boundaries, fishing and
mining and oil exploration rights further compound these disputes.
Anti-Japanese riots erupted across China in
September after Japan purchased a group of islands in the East China Sea, called
Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner. Violent mobs
attacked Japanese-owned supermarkets,
factories and car dealerships, while the local police and authorities watched. So
far, Japan estimates losses of more than a $ 100 million dollars.
Things calmed down somewhat after the US
categorically made clear that the islands were covered under the US Japan
mutual cooperation and security treaty. However, Japan cancelled a joint
military drill with the US that was to have taken place this week. Part of the
drill would have simulated the recapture of a remote Japanese island from a
foreign invader.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the
US provides Taiwan with “arms of
a defensive character", and pledges "to maintain the capacity of the United
States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that
would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people
on Taiwan."
Given that Taiwan is on China’s list of
core, non-negotiable issues, there is
obviously much room for small misunderstandings escalating into a full fledged
confrontation between the US and China.
America’s Asia Pivot, announced last year
by secretary of state Hillary Clinton, had added to Chinese concerns. The State
Department, while stressing that this was now a significant feature of American
foreign policy, insists that it wants to work with, not against China. “We
recognise that the Asia-Pacific region is big enough for both of us,” it says.
In response, outgoing Chinese president Hu
Jintao stressed on the need for a more powerful Chinese Navy.
The US, however, faces a dilemma here. Use
of force would buttress the Chinese suspicions abouts hostile American intentions
aimed at containing China. But not using it when required would imply that it’s
threats were empty, and might actually drive several nations in the region under
a Chinese security umbrella.
While Beijing will certainly not soften its
position on the row with Tokyo, so far it appears to be cautious about directly
challenging Washington on security issues.
US policy on China is to engage and
challenge. They believe that increasing
engagement, where is China is drawn into existing international financial,
social and military forums and processes, would make it less likely to attack
such systems. The challenges would be on
issues like human rights and increasing access to China’s markets. And of course, territorial issues.
Many Chinese, however, believe the existing
international systems are the thin edge of the democratic wedge, and need to be
revisited factoring in Chinese interests and systems. And it has already made
it clear that its sovereignty and territorial claims are not negotiable.
But is a rising China a threat?
A threat is usually defined as a combination
of hostile intentions and credible capabilities.
But then the classic security dilemma kicks
in: Even when a nation enhances its military capability in a defensive mode, it’s
neighbours --and depending on the extent and nature of the capability, the rest
of the world -- feel threatened, and take countermeasures.
In other words, regardless of intentions,
capabilities are a threat.
No one doubts China’s increasing economic
might, and bar some major crisis, it is expected to become the world’s largest
economy over the next couple of decades. It is also a nuclear weapons state,
and allocating huge budgets for its military.
A candid discussion I had with a young Chinese
scholar and journalist at an editor’s conference in Jakarta a couple of years
ago, however, was informative.
After stating that China would consider a
war only if its core interests were threatened, he went to argue that the
United States was, and would continue to remain, the dominant military power
for a long time. He also said conventional
warfare, where you captured, secured and
eventually administered “enemy territory” was becoming increasingly
redundant. After a brief discourse on
asymmetrical warfare, he asked: Have you seen Die Hard 4?
This is a movie where a criminal group
hacks into the american power and electronic systems, cutting off power and disrupting everything
from traffic signals to the stock market’s network.
Last month (October 2012) the US House of Representatives’s Intelligence
Committee warned that equipment made by Huwaei and ZTE, two Chinese electronics
giants, posed a risk because it could be used to eavesdrop on America’s
telecoms networks. China’s persistent
attempts and advances in hacking activities pose a growing threat not just to
information systems worldwide, but could disrupt or blind American intelligence
and communications satellites, weapons targeting systems, and navigation
computers, Bloomberg cited an anonymous US intelligence official as saying.
At a national seminar on Tech sovereignty
in ICT in Delhi recently, Gen Dhruv Katoch, addnl director of the Center for
Land Warfare Studies, noted with concern that 60-70 per cent of telecom
software used in India is manufactured
by Huawei and ZTE.
Let’s now come back to India.
How does a rising China impact us? More
importantly, how does it threaten us?
As rapidly growing economies, both India
and China are competing for the same power and mineral resources, influence and
goodwill. Not just in the region, but in Africa, in the Persian Gulf, Central
Asia, Latin America.
Bilaterally, we have agreed to put
contentious issues like the border on the backburner, while building on areas
of convergence, like trade and commerce, and re-invigorating cultural ties.
From a few billion dollars in 2000, Bilateral trade between India and China
reached a record $73.9 billion last year, with the imbalance widening to $27
billion in China’s favour. This is partly due to the restrictions following the
mining scam in India, which impacted our iron ore exports. We mostly import Chinese
machinery, power and telecom equipment.
By 2015, bilateral trade will cross the $
100 billion mark, making China one of, if not the, largest trading partner.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has met outgoing
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao about 20 times over the past
few years, including about 13 meetings with Wen.
Mahindra and Mahindra, The Tatas, Infosys,
Mahindra Satyam, NIIT have all set up shop in China. We are even likely to
revive our joint military exercises, which were cancelled in 2010 after the Chinese
denied a visa for a defence delegation visit to the northern area commander,
Lt-Gen B S Jaswal, saying he was an administrator of ‘disputed areas.”
Our strategic analysts point with
increasing alarm to the Chinese missile bases in Tibet, the rapid infrastructure
and even military exercises on the other side of our borders, and China’s increasing arc of influence in
the Indian Ocean region, with friendly ports in Myamnar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Pakistan, the Seychelles, Maldives and stretching all the way to eastern
Africa. China of course insists that
this is not aimed at India, but at buttressing its energy security, given that
most if the oil it imports is shipped along this route.
Our analysts also point to powerful Chinese
ties with Pakistan, which has actually leased parts of Gilgit Baltistan,in the
Northern Areas of Kashmir, to China. “China has already occupied a part of Gilgit
Baltistan, a little part of Hunza is under its control and Aksai Chin is also
occupied,’ Wajahat Hassan Khan, the chief of the Gilgit Baltistan National
Alliance told ANI over phone recently.
On the flip side, the Chinese, while arming
Pakistan with missiles and nuclear weapons, has studiously avoided getting directly
involved in our wars with Pakistan. But that’s no guarantee that they won’t.
India has water sharing treaties with all its
neighbours –Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar..all except China.
Almost all the major rivers of the
subcontinent come down from the Tibetan mountains. The Indus, the Mahakali,
Kosi, the Brahmaputra, which is known as Tsangpo in China. Ignoring protests from downstream nations and
ecologists, Beijing is aggressively building
dams in Tibet, capable of regulating Brahmaputra river flows according to
China's needs. A project in eastern Tibet near Mt. Namcha Barwa, where the
Tsangpo turns south to enter India, is expected to be the world's biggest
hydroelectric dam, with double the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam. It will
also be diverting water to China’s southwest.
Another smaller project near Lhasa too will be able to control the water
flow into India.
China is also funding and helping build several
dams and water projects on the Indus--like the Diamer Bhasa Dam in Gilgit
Baltistan --and rapidly building telecom and other dual use infrastructure in
those areas.
In
response to Indian objections to such projects, a Chinese website said:
“The
Indian jealousy coupled with suspicion against China has lately become bigger.
Firstly, India adopts precaution against the Chinese enterprises by all
possible means. And then cooks up the story of an “intrusion” along the border.
Whenever China gets in touch with other neighbouring countries, it invariably
triggers a series of anxiety from India.”
Tibet:
China has never really gotten around to
forgiving us for giving refuge to the Dalai Lama in 1959. The existence of the
Tibetan government in exile, headquartered out of Dharamshala, is seen as an
affront by many Chinese.
The recent spate of self-immolations by
Tibetans across China has added to Chinese concerns. More than 20 such deaths
have taken place since November 1, including at least one woman and a 14 year
old boy. This has raised the Chinese sensitivity towards anything that smacks
of what it describes as ‘splittist’ tendencies in Tibet.
But China’s strategic aims are not limited
to the region alone.
Let me take you to nine volcanic
islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, midway between North America and
Europe. About 1,500 km from Lisbon and
2,000 km from Newfoundland, Canada, these islands form
the Autonomous Region of the Azores, one of the two autonomous
regions of Portugal.
At 8.30 am on June 27, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s Boeing 747 landed at Air Base number 4 on the island of Terceira to refuel. He was
returning to Beijing after a fairly successful official trip to Brazil,
Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. After being formally received by Alamo Meneses,
the regional secretary of environment of the sea, Wen went on a walkabout,
having coffee with the residents of the sleepy little town, talking about
bull-fighting, the European economy, and of course China. He broke into a loud
laugh when an old timer, asked about his impression of China, replied “very
mysterious.”
”China’s reform and opening up 30 years, it
is no longer a mystery,” said Wen, urging the gathering to visit his country.
A geologist who worked for 14 years with a
provincial geological survey, Wen also
discussed the volcanic status of the islands, and ways to generate
energy from the seabed.
But what was the premier of an aspiring
superpower really doing in those remote islands?
Simple: Air Base number 4, also known as
Lages Airbase, jointly operated by Portugal and the United States Air force.
This is an important refueling station for
aircraft that can't clear the Atlantic Ocean in a single shot, and the played a
critical role during the two gulf wars.
Here’s what Gordon Chang, author of The
Coming Collapse of China, said in an article titled red flag over the atlantic:
‘Peace in the North Atlantic and advances in air-to-air refueling have
decreased the importance of the strategic runway, which is now rarely used by
the US. Pentagon budget cutters, according to some observers, are planning to
make Lajes a “ghost base.”
This would obviously impact the local economy, which depends a lot on servicing the Americans on the base.
This would obviously impact the local economy, which depends a lot on servicing the Americans on the base.
‘If China controlled the base, the Atlantic
would no longer be secure,’ writes Chang. ‘From the 10,865-foot runway on the
northeast edge of the island, Chinese planes could patrol the northern and
central portions of the Atlantic and thereby cut air and sea traffic between
the U.S. and Europe. Beijing would also be able to deny access to the nearby
Mediterranean Sea. And China could target the American homeland. Lajes is less
than 2,300 miles from New York, shorter than the distance between Pearl Harbor
and Los Angeles…’
Regardless of whether the Chinese
eventually get a foothold in the Azores, the message going out to the Americans
is clear…you mess in my backyard, we’ll mess in yours.
Compare that with the weak-kneed power projections that India has displayed so far.
Here’s what Arundhati Ghose, one of India’s
finest diplomats, and the lady who bluntly told the United States what it could
do with the Comprehensive Test ban Treaty in 1996, once told me:
I don't think we have a sense that we are a
more powerful country today, I don't see that. Because I don't think we yet
understand power. I don't think we understand power at all. Economically, today
we have more power, relatively, compared to what we had 10 or 20 years ago. But
we do not understand it. We do not how to use it, we don't know how to project
it, we are uncomfortable with it. We are more comfortable with the powerless.
If you have power, you have to be able to use it, to leverage it. Be very
clear about what it is you want. Whether you are dealing with Bangladesh
or with Sri Lanka. How is it that Sri Lanka, which is so closely intertwined
with us because of the Tamils, it's just across the straits, and we sit here
and let the Norwegians handle it?
This was true six years ago, when she gave
me this interview, and it’s probably true now.
Predictions about international affairs is
a mug’s game, particularly in today’s rapidly changing situations. Over the
past quarter century, we have predictions about the rise of Russia, the decline
of the United States, the rise of China and the Rise of India.
But over the next decade, I suspect China
will increasingly start asserting itself in the region, pushing the envelope
against the US. We in India are likely to see more incursions across the line
of control, and increasing pressure over
Arunachal and the Dalai Lama.
Here’s what we need to, not one after the
other, but in parallel:
Invest intelligence, resources, and thought
on understanding the Chinese culture, its way of thinking, the influences
behind its strategic philosophy.
Clearly define and announce our own
non-negotiable, core interests. Over which we are willing to go to war.
Push for a water treaty with China.
Invest resources and forces to ramp up our
ability along all our borders.
Avoid being promoted as a western ‘counterweight’
to China
Keep stressing on the Pakistani links to
terror in Xinjiang, and the advantages of good economic relations with India.
Because in today’s world, speaking softly
while carrying a big stick is not enough.
It is important to be able –and seen as
being able -to weild that stick when needed.
Speaker Profile:
Ramananda
Sengupta started his career as a journalist 25 years ago with The
Telegraph, Calcutta, where he became the newspaper’s first foreign
editor. He then went on to head the international desks of Outlook
Magazine, New Delhi, and rediff.com, Mumbai (and its US publication,
India Abroad), before moving to Chennai as chief editor of sify.com.
Four
years later, he returned to Mumbai to join a startup, India.com, as
editor-in-chief, and then to Bangalore in January this year as
editor-in-chief of yet another startup, iStream.com. He is now a
consultant editor with Indian Defence Review - a premier strategic
affairs magazine and writes for various think tanks like the Al Jazeera
Center for Studies, among others. His abiding personal and professional interest, however, has always been India and its place in the region, and in the world.
About Jijnasa:
The literal meaning of the word Jijnasa in Sanskrit is Inquiry. Jijnasa is a platform under the aegis of CESS, which is an effort to promote the quest for knowledge.
The literal meaning of the word Jijnasa in Sanskrit is Inquiry. Jijnasa is a platform under the aegis of CESS, which is an effort to promote the quest for knowledge.
It is hard to obtain the company of the noble.
It is easy to obtain the company of the ignoble.
Pebbles are available in plenty; but it is hard to obtain the precious diamond.
India is not just a nation state but a civilization state. A civilization that prides itself for the spirit of inquiry, and is not based on a contrived belief system or historicity. A civilization that is firmly rooted in Dharma. A civilization that has much to offer and inspire the world.
However, our ignorance about ourselves is profound. It is therefore Jijnasa’s desire to invoke the spirit of inquiry, which can set people on the journey of self discovery. Its aim is to provoke and equip people to see things beyond the limited mainstream discourse on issues of national importance and seek solutions to contemporary issues facing the country.
It is important to understand ourselves before we can understand the issues around us. Enlightened individuals make for an assertive society, which has the womb to carry traditions along with modernity. Jijnasa’s attempt is to make fellow travelers discover the heterogeneity of the Indian traditions yet the cohesiveness that has stood us in good stead for several thousand years. At the core of Jijnasa, is the desire to build an innate ability to see the world from an exalted position, which is so essential for a country aspiring to play center stage in world affairs.
It is easy to obtain the company of the ignoble.
Pebbles are available in plenty; but it is hard to obtain the precious diamond.
India is not just a nation state but a civilization state. A civilization that prides itself for the spirit of inquiry, and is not based on a contrived belief system or historicity. A civilization that is firmly rooted in Dharma. A civilization that has much to offer and inspire the world.
However, our ignorance about ourselves is profound. It is therefore Jijnasa’s desire to invoke the spirit of inquiry, which can set people on the journey of self discovery. Its aim is to provoke and equip people to see things beyond the limited mainstream discourse on issues of national importance and seek solutions to contemporary issues facing the country.
It is important to understand ourselves before we can understand the issues around us. Enlightened individuals make for an assertive society, which has the womb to carry traditions along with modernity. Jijnasa’s attempt is to make fellow travelers discover the heterogeneity of the Indian traditions yet the cohesiveness that has stood us in good stead for several thousand years. At the core of Jijnasa, is the desire to build an innate ability to see the world from an exalted position, which is so essential for a country aspiring to play center stage in world affairs.
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