Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan at CII Young India Summit-1: Transcript

youtube link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FytTv4Jgn7o
Not too long ago, we were a nation full of self-pity, self-flagellation and a sense of doom and deprivation. In over 12 years of time, I think significant changes are evident today, earlier we talking about them, but now we are seeing some of them.
I remember some 20 years ago, when I was special officer of India’s largest public sector undertaking at that time, about 8000 crores of investment in Vishakapatnam steel project, until that time I was a great socialist like many of our generation were. Many of you would laugh at us to think that there actually could be some socialist thinkers and believers, some 20-25 years ago. But that stint cured me of many of those illusions, because I then discovered that public sector was nothing but private sector of those in public office. But that knowledge dawned on the people of this country at large; and the governance system almost a decade later. We were very slow, but mercifully it happened even if it is out of compulsion though not of conviction and things started changing, that’s the reason why we are now discussing what we are discussing.
If Sanjay Barau talks about “how to take on the world?” on equal terms without a sense of fear or reputation also with a sense of ease: “Giving and Taking”, fulfilling our obligations, accepting the challenges and becoming a major power.
Or if Dr. Khanna is talking about potential and promise, and changing our nature and our perception: not only self-perception but also global-perception of India: From a caged tiger (A famous “Economist” issue of 4th of may 1991, some of you might have read, but for many of us of slightly elder generation; that was one of most defining pieces of journalism; one of the most spectacular pieces of journalism. Talking of our promise and potential of our problems) to playing a majestic elephant, hopefully.

But were are we now in terms of geo-political terms, I thought that Sanjay would take some of these, so may be I would go into some of these specifics, he gave you a broader picture of India, its future, its potential, its promise and its challenges.

Three days ago, I was talking to a very perceptive American about India’s role within our own neighbourhood. He said “You know, if India starts negotiating with Bhutan, then India will end-up becoming Bhutan”. That started a chain of thoughts in my mind. Somehow we still have not come to believe that we matter bigger than Bhutan or Nepal or Bangladesh or Pakistan. Somehow when we deal with Bangladesh for instance, we all the time look at ……………….., we somehow try and rob it, not realizing that there are actually gains to be made for both of us, and we need to be generous; not merely out of charity, but out of enlightened self-interest.
Look at the Asian highway, its one of the most promising things for this country. For the first time we are looking at the east. We are now looking at linking up with south-east Asia in a substantial measure. Look at our own states; UP and Bihar: some of the most backward in the world, some of the most populous, some of the most densely populated in the world. And I do not see any significant political solutions in the next few years. They are possible, but they are not practical given Indian constitutional and political constraints. One way to really re-shape the future of something like 280 million people in those two states alone and may be if you include Bengal, north-east and Orrisa, you are looking at something like 400 million people, that’s a large number. To reshape their future is, linking up the Southeast Asia, and road-link is the critical one. And we still could not make Bangladesh understand that it is critical for their future as well as important for our own future. We still have to go through Siliguri; a very torturous route. And still we cannot be linked up the way we ought to.
Take the case of Nepal: I am agnostic, I don’t care a damn for religion, but there is a natural link between Nepal and India, and yet when you go to Nepal there is somehow a perception that India is a bit of nuisance. Nepal is a very reluctant ally. Many Nepalese think that Indians are big brothers. And from a purely economic-stand point-of-view, Nepal has excellent terms of trade like textiles, garments, etc. If Indians know how to invest in Nepal, have a good relationship with Nepal, have a good feeling for them, look at their future, then Indians could take great advantage of those terms and then give benefits to Nepalese people and Indian capital. And maybe even Indian workers, because there are no real barriers between Nepal and India. Or take the problems of internal security within the country, naxalites in Andhra Pradesh: Peoples’ War Group to the whole belt spreading up to Nepal Maoists, there are links. If we trust them, if they trust us not merely fear us, maybe together we can confront the challenge effectively.
The point I am making is, if we have to make significant geo-political contribution and play our rightful role, first, we must look at our neighbours. If only because we are infinitely bigger, for the far greater civilizational sense, with much greater level of confidence, we can afford to do that on terms not necessarily in the short-term equal, it shouldn’t be, it need not be. Eventually we will all gain, because India cannot prosper if South Asia cannot.
Lets look towards west, Pakistan ofcourse the problems are well known. But go back a century or more, in those days (I don’t know how many of you are aware, but) much of the global politics were centered around warm water ports; the requirements of warm water port for Russia. The czarist expansion of Russia, the occupation of central asia, and somehow getting a corridor to Arabian sea via Afghanistan. That’s why the then british Indian govt of fought three Afghan wars, inorder to conquer and control Afghanistan. Ofcourse they were all doomed to failure ultimately. But issue is even today, “how do we somehow establish linkage with central asia”. Which is no longer a part of soviet union. “how do we make an impact”; that means we have to deal with Islam, we have to deal with terrorism, we have to deal with a host of other factors, because Oil, Natural Gas and many other things that are of strategic importance in the next 25 to 30 or 50 years. They are all going to be dependent on what do we do on the west for this country. There is much to be done; there is a lot of that you have to understand. I don’t know how many of you would name five central asian republics once part of former soviet union. I don’t know if many of the Indian people and businesses have actually are going there and trading with them, interacting with them, understanding them and trying to shape their countries and shape our own relationships with those countries and therefore our own future.
And ofcourse China, Sanjay made significant points but let me make one point which is optimistic, despite all the unfavourable comparisons, one good thing that’s happening is, our own sense of long-term vision. 20, 30 or 40 years ago, we all used to say, what all be the failings of china, that’s a country with long-term national vision. They look themselves at themselves and look at the world in terms of 50 years, 100 years. They have truly long-term national vision, but we always look at today, tomorrow, somehow manage survive.
But I think happily, we must give it our political system across the spectrum, its not this party or that, we now are looking towards the long-term. For instance, national highway project, the sagaramala, the asian highway that I talked about and significant diplomatic initiatives of look-east policy as-well-as looking towards central asia and west asia, and even our relations with china and rest of the world. All these are now shaped by a sense of longterm.