Seeing A Cultural Awakening: Sanjeev Sanyal, Amish Tripathi At NDTV Ignite

Twelve years of Modi government have put India's civilisational legacy at the forefront like never before. Speaking at the 'NDTV Ignite' conclave on the theme of Virasat Se Vikas Tak, economist and historian Sanjeev Sanyal and Author Amish Tripathi discussed the importance of cultural awakening that India is witnessing.

In the session moderated by NDTV 24X7's Managing Editor Shiv Aroor, Sanyal pointed out that in the last 12 years, Indians have started viewing history in a different way. Elaborating on his point he said, "earlier, Indians thought of history as something to be feared, as just a tale of conquests, where Indians didn't matter."

And that approach also informed India's world view and foreign policy, Sanyal continued. Now, he said, the view of history of has changed and we know that we were great explorers and adventurers who did great things. "This view is not reflected in our foreign policy and economic culture".

He credited Prime Minister Modi for "turning on this switch" in our understanding and approach to history that helps us shape our present and future.

Taking on from where Sanyal left, Amish Tripathi said that today we can proudly say we are Hindu from any stage, which was not the case earlier, recounting his own experience from 2011 when he introduced himself as a "proud Hindu" at a LitFest and it invited awkward silence from the panelists. "Over time we got disconnected from our roots. Now we are back in tune with our roots".

While advocating for all sorts of ideas to be welcomed from all directions, Tripathi made a case for staying rooted.

Elaborating how foreign narratives have shaped Indian psyche about their history, Sanyal pointed out that we were told Indians were scared of crossing the seas, which is untrue. "Indians have always been great explorers. What explains the presence of largest Hindu temple in Cambodia?"

"Indians were not just meditating for 1000s of years. Systematically history was changed to imbibe the belief that Indians were not doing anything. That we were just sitting and waiting for some invaders to come and civilise us."

He lamented the fact that after independence, a very distorted version of history was taught to Indians. "It ingrained the idea of Indians being naturally pacifists."

With the cultural awakening and confidence that has now come to define India, Sanyal said that heritage and civilisational strengths are now engines for Indian economy.

"Now, we have revived our culture of risk taking. Just look at how many people are ready to plunge into startups. Indians not just thinking of UPSC or govt jobs. That is a civilsational shift. The mindset has switched to risk taking."

Talking about the resilience of India's civilisation, Amish Tripathi pointed out that while most great civilisations and cultures died down when invaded and ruled by foreigner for a long period of time, India has survived multiple onslaughts.

"We are the only culture that has survived invaders over 1500 years... we suffered violence and attacks... But we kept reconquering our civilisation over and over again," he stated.

"We are strong once again. Let's revive the strong robust outgoing culture that we have always had."

Discussing how West framed the argument around Indian icons and their comparisons, Amish Tripathi dwelled on the example of Machiavelli and Chanakya.

Rejecting comparison between the two statesmen, Amish pointed out that while Machiavelli managed only a city, Chanakya managed one-fifth of the world population.

"Where is the comparison? Machiavelli had a sense power, but not of ethics and morality. Chanakya never taught power for the sake of power. He always spoke of long term interests of people."