External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar fired up the Bharat versus India name debate again when he said ‘Bharat’ is a belief and an attitude for him, while addressing the 96th ‘Annual General Meeting’ of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi on December 9.
Jaishankar said, “To me, Bharat is actually a belief and an attitude for me. Bharat has an economic dimension. It has a political meaning. It has cultural, social, I would say even personal expressions. At the end of the day the term Bharat means don’t let other people define you. Try and define yourself. That it has to come from itself because that very term Bharat which is so laden with symbolism actually captures centuries of what we are all about as a people.”
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While sharing his personal experience of traveling during the Coronavirus pandemic, the minister also spoke about India’s strong and assertive response and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. He went on to state that the contemporary world cannot just have one or two powers and highlighted that the world is heading towards multipolarity in greater insecurity and more protectionism, as per reports.
He said, “This is not a world of one power or two power; there are many more countries, today, in the fray. And, that in many ways, while very welcome, also makes the world a more difficult place to navigate and manage…Today, we are really looking at the consequences of what happens when trading rules are gamed when competition is unfair…The fact is today, the world is heading towards greater insecurity and more protectionism…”
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