16 January 2014
India, Russia, Ukraine
1. Relations between India and Russia go back many decades and particularly the latest phase in India- Russia relations, you can say, started from the year 2000, when the two countries adopted a declaration on strategic partnership.
The past has proved it changes in the government made no difference to the one constant factor in our foreign policy that has been our relations with Russia. There has been an extraordinary amount of connection between India and Russia in social and cultural areas, for a very long period of time. And it actually goes back to even before the Soviet period.
Saint Petersburg State University, being one of the oldest universities, had a number of Indological faculties even in 1800. The same goes for MSU in Moscow. In fact, Russia was probably among the first countries to have Indological studies. There are a number of scholars here in Moscow, in Saint-Petersburg, in Kazan. The Institute of Philosophy in Moscow has published an Encyclopedia of Indian and Buddhist Philosophy.
Cultural Centre in the Embassy teaches a lot of courses, in Indian dance, in Indian music and yoga and these courses are oversubscribed, we have over 500 students. And we can’t take more because our capacity is not enough. Separate from our Culture Centre, there are 40 to 50 centres all over Russia.
Indian films right from the Soviet times- Raj Kapoor is very well- known- have been very popular. The older generation- they are well aware of different aspects of Indian culture. There is of course the challenge how to bring this also to the younger generation in Russia.
Why there is such an interest and bond between our two people throughout centuries? I can only say that there are a number of areas in which (our two) people culturally understand each other instinctively. Indians, who come to Russia, settle down very easily here; they find it very easy to deal with
Russian people. I think that’s also indication of the fact that culturally you feel that we are close.
Russia is a multicultural society and India is a multicultural society and both of us have tackled the challenges of multicultural societies very well. Of course, each country has it’s own specificities, each country has it’s own history and their way of tackling multicultural societies. The success of a multicultural society depends on the mutual respect for each culture and of course protection of the rights of each culture, the ability of each culture to fulfill its aspirations and this is one aspect of it.
All religions preach tolerance. If you go back to the various books from which Hinduism draws its inspiration, it is an enormously broadminded, enormously liberal, enormously tolerant philosophy. It is actually a philosophy which became a religion. And sometimes people don’t have the right motivation. Sometimes they use religion for political purposes or for economic purposes. So there are people who misuse religion. So the problem comes not from religion but from misuse of religion.
One aspect is that each culture, its specificity, its specific requirement, its specific identity should be recognized. The other side of it is at the same time all these cultures must come together with one national ethos. Both are required. You cannot have without the other in society in order to be sustainable.
For Russians India is very ancient, sometimes mystic. The fact that the world is becoming materialistic is of course undoubted. I think you cannot avoid it. That is the nature of progressive society. The extent to which a country can preserve its spiritual heritage depends again on the national ethos, depends on a number of other factors. If you look at different countries, they also go through certain phases where after a period of strong materialism, they then start trying to go back to their original spiritual roots. So it is a self-correcting mechanism in societies also when the strength of the historical ethos comes out. Of course, is that once you get prosperity, you then look for something to the spiritual underpinnings for the prosperity. So it’s a constant effort that certain segments of societies have to keep making, to keep alive the spiritual heritage.
2. India is very concerned, like the rest of the world, at the developments that are taking place in Ukraine. Particularly, the tensions between communities, the loss of lives, the violence.
We have a very strong conviction that solution to such differences can only be found and can only be sustainable through dialogue between communities, through mutual respect and mutual accommodation between communities. Ukrainian issue should be solved by the Ukrainian people. In the particular case of Ukraine, given its position and given its place in Europe, it has to be a solution with which all its neighbors are comfortable with as well.
What is important in a multicultural society is the same all over the world. It is basically: harmony and tolerance. Because multicultural societies are not formed overnight. It is a historical process caused by migration, caused by settlement, by which societies become multicultural. And it happens over decades and over centuries. And over these decades and centuries, the ethos of the society builds up, which promotes harmony, which promotes tolerance and particularly it promotes mutual respect for the traditions, for the religions, for the customs of other communities, which are in your society.
You also should have a government which ensures that every community has equal access to education, to health and to other socio-economic requirements of the community. Because, we have to see that all these communities contribute to the national ethos, they blend into the national purpose while at the same time maintaining their distinct cultural heritage, religious heritage and another specificities that they have.
For example, in the case of India it is also formalized in our constitution. Our constitution ensures that every government that is in office guarantees to all cultures in a multicultural society, their rights and protection of their aspirations.
In every society, tensions arise and tensions are caused by a variety of reasons. There are political reasons. But most tensions in society are caused by economic reasons. Particularly in the developing countries, though they get defined in religious terms, or they might be defined in cultural terms, the root is normally economic.
It’s a mix of attention that you give to social and cultural rights which may have been violated, or there may be a perception that they have been violated. But perception is very important in society. But importantly you have to ensure that education and economic well-being are taken care of. If you take care of that, you will also improve the awareness and that itself solves a lot of problems.
