Jaishankar asserted the country’s interests vehemently and made clear where it stood in the eyes of the world, but he also made a suggestion for the local audience that hasn’t gotten enough attention.
Source: Hindustan Times
This excerpt shows how he transitioned from referring to the nation as Bharat at the speech’s beginning to several descriptions of it as India as he went along to a final articulation with the bigger and more comprehensive meaning of India, which is Bharat. Jaishankar’s description of the nation is significant because, just as on the international stage, there was internal criticism of the government’s usage of the term Bharat in connection with the most recent G20 conference.
The government and the ruling party portrayed it as an affirmation of identity and self-respect, saying that Bharat was what we called ourselves and that India was a term given to us by foreigners. It was presented as a conflict between our perceptions of ourselves and those of others. This political divide had no real political significance and was made purely for political gain. The usage of both by Jaishankar at the highest level of international diplomacy may indicate that the goal was either not achieved or that the goal was without merit. Words play a big part in diplomacy, and diplomats never use them carelessly. We can only notice with joy the return to the wisdom of the Constitution if Jaishankar finally revealed the phrase India, that is Bharat to the world as consensus text, to steal from diplomatic jargon.
Source: United Nations
Because of the extreme North-South and East-West polarization in the world, Jaishankar noted that the only real remedies are diplomacy and communication. He emphasized the necessity of rapprochement in a divisive society. At home, India and Bharat are opposing entities in a polarized society, just as East and West and North and South are in a polarized world, and that too required reconciliation. The fact that Jaishankar decided to implement it on a global scale must be seen as his realization that it was crucial to the second significant claim he made, namely, India’s role in promoting peace between the East and West and the North and South.
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