Panelists taking part in a "Dialogue on Defence" here, said that if India is to acquire the status of a global power in the near future and nix threat perceptions to it before they become unmanageable, it should work towards creating a strategic vision, empower the youth and channelize their energies in a positive direction.
Hosted jointly by the BJP mouthpieces 'Organizer' (English) and Panchajanya (Hindi), the event was held at the Constitution Club here last evening. Senior RSS functionary Arun Kumar and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were the chief guests.
Addressing participants, Arun Kumar, who presides over RSS-related activities in Jammu and Kashmir, said he was particularly concerned and perplexed about the fact that even 67 years after acquiring independence from the United Kingdom, India continues to be in a perpetual state of having an identity crisis and unable to surmount its myriad socio-economic problems.
Firmly and vociferously saying that the India of today needs to develop a strategic insight and vision of its core strengths and assess ways to address its existing weaknesses, Kumar said it was sad that the people of the country are still unable to rise above their cynicism and work for the betterment of the community and the nation.
If a holistic view is taken and problems are approached in a hands-on manner, only then can the country aim and aspire for, and be accepted in the comity of nations as a global power, he said.
India, he said, lacked nothing, and has the potential to be accepted as a global power in its own right. He suggested that the country's population itself was a force to be reckoned with, and added that historically, this had been proven by the collapse of the British Empire in the post-World War-II period.
Kumar highlighted the strategic importance of the Indian subcontinent as derived from its geographical location and it being one of the oldest civilisation of the world.
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He suggested that history proves that Britain kept its Empire alive only due to the military and economic support provided by the then Indian Dominion that it controlled.
He said before the war, Britain was able to control most parts of the world because of the huge Indian population that it had at its beck and call, and once it left Indian shores permanently in 1947, there was a rapid erosion of its empirical might.
He stressed upon the need for a strategic vision and grass roots participation to enhance security levels of the nation. The objective should be to not only react to an adverse security situation but to understand as to why the situation arises and to thereby put in place checks and preemptive measures.
Kumar said he was happy to participate in the third dialogue on defence organized by the 'Organizer' and the 'Panchajanya', and praised both magazines for their longevity and relevance in the media space, as also their consistent endeavour to highlight key issues of national interest from time-to-time with objectivity and clarity.
In his speech, Rathore articulated the security challenges that India is facing.
He emphasized on the maritime security aspects in the context of China's attempt to encircle India by building ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
"The Chinese intention is to secure for itself the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean so necessary for its oil and trade route," he said.
The second big issue that he dwelled upon was religious terrorism emanating from Pakistan and West Asia. He said that it extended from infiltration and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir to the spread of Islamic propaganda by Al Qaeda in India.
"The recent activity of building of mosques along the Indo-Nepal border supplemented by the opening of Confucius-learning centres in Nepal by China is a pointer to the manner in which there is a paradigm shift in ideology that is being attempted. India is a target for such activity because of its burgeoning young population. The challenge can be faced only by ensuring that the youth is gainfully employed in economic activity which is the vision of the current BJP-led NDA Government," Rathore said.
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