"maximum India": Unleashing India's Softpower

Dance drama Shakunthalam by the ICCR-sponsored "Natyalakshana" group at the Kennedy Center on March 7, 2011 (Photo : Carol Pratt)

In a glittering ceremony on 1st March 2011, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in cooperation with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Embassy of India inaugurated the magnificent festival "maximum INDIA" which showcased India's rich and diverse performing arts.

Author Suketu Mehta, Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair of the Senate Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Meera Shankar, Ambassador of India to the United States, David Rubenstein, Chairman of the Kennedy Center, Michael Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center and Suresh Goel, Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations spoke at the inauguration. James Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State, Congressman Ed Royce, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Congressman Dan Burton, Congressman Jim McDermott, William Burns, Under Secretary of State, Bruce Reed, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States, Board Members of the Kennedy Center and other prominent members of the Administration and society were present including many from the Indian American community.

Tanusree Shankar Dance Company performing (Photo: Carol Pratt)

Odissi Vision & Movement Centre performing

ICCR-sponsored group, Gulabo Sapera& Party, performing at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage on March 8, 2011

Author Suketu Mehta, in a thought provoking opening address talked of the flow of ideas between India and the United States which had influenced each other at important moments in their history – from Thoreau to Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King. Mr. Kaiser observed that, "India amazes with the majesty and mystery of its culture. Its brilliance is that it is a country of extremes—intellect, innovation, survival, and experimentation. India offers the maximum." Senator Warner stated that as the head of the US-India Caucus, it is his privilege to be associated with a festival that brings the diversity of Indian arts to the USA. David Rubenstein recalled his 40 year association with India which he had first visited in "the footsteps of the Beatles" and stated that he was particularly pleased that this festival was being held at the Kennedy Center when he is the Chairman of the center.

Ambassador Meera Shankar described India as "a confluence of civilizations with diversity and tolerance as its hallmarks." She said that the economic transformation, which India is currently undergoing, has also led to enormous creative ferment which is finding reflection in literature, dance, music, theatre, cinema and the arts. Ambassador underlined that shared democratic values and increasingly convergent interests have guided India and the United States in forging a global Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century. She emphasized the vital role of cultural exchanges and connections between people in nourishing this partnership. She quoted Mahatma Gandhi who said, "I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any." She thanked the Kennedy Center for their hard work over the past several years in developing this festival, the ICCR for supporting this festival and all the Indian artistes who would over the course of the next 20 days provide a window into India's soul. Suresh Goel, Director General, ICCR, thanked the Kennedy Center for hosting the festival and bringing under one roof not only the artistes from the ICCR but also troupes from India and internationally positioned Indian artistes like Ustad Zakir Hussain. There were graceful performances by Indian dancers, Madhavi Mudgil amd Alarmel Valli and a dazzling Tabla recital by Ustad Zakir Hussain, along with others. The invitees also got an authentic taste of fabulous Indian cuisine representing all regions of the country, which was prepared by 12 award-winning Chefs from The Taj, specially flown in from Mumbai. This visual, auditory and culinary extravaganza of India went on for twenty days. The eight troupes sponsored by the ICCR will also perform in different cities of the United States of America including New York, Chicago, and Houston.

India needs to do more to leverage its formi dable strengths in 'soft power' abroad and exploit its capacity to provide global leadership in the area art of culture.

India's many strengths include films, yoga, ayurveda, pluralism, diversity and openness to global influences.

Violinist L.Subramanian performing at the Kennedy Center on March 6, 2011 . (Sponsored by Indian Council of Cultural Relations)

Ustaad Zakir Hussain performs at the opening gala (Photo: Scott Suchman)

Performance by the ICCR-sponsored Kerala Kalamandalam Kathakali Troupe at the Kennedy Center on March 19, 2011 (Photo : Margot Schulman)

Originally defined by Harvard academic Joseph Nye, the idea of 'soft power' is the ability of countries to influence and alter other people's attitudes by attraction rather than coercion (military means).

The Indian government needs to exploit these in a systematic manner to achieve its objectives.
It will not be long before there will be increasing global disapproval of countries that continue to use ‘hard power'.

Soft power does not belong to only government initiatives; it is created partly by governments and partly despite it, for example initiatives such as Fulbright scholarships (US), Alliance Franbcaise (French), th British Council (UK) and recent efforts by China to set up Confucius centres across the globe.

India's thriving image has changed from that of naked fakirs to a land of computer geeks and IITs.

Gandhi and Nehru made skillful use of soft power (ideas of non-violence, nonalignment), but in the 21st century, for hard power to succeed, it needed to be backed by the soft power of ideas and culture.

The proliferation of mass media – television, radio, internet and print media – with its reach across vast swaths of the globe has made it a strategic imperative for countries today to proactively manage their image and perceptions if they are to become a Soft power. Forming, communicating and managing India's appealing attributes in an era of 24/7 news becomes increasingly important to how we are perceived by other nations and peoples. A corollary to communicating our attributes is that we need to contemplate and define the attributes that best define us as a nation.The importance of Soft power is underscored by recent events that bear witness to the fact that military prowess alone does not guarantee universal respect.

So where does India stand in terms of Soft power potential? Today, we find ourselves often being referred to as a "potential power" inspite of nearly half a decade of record economic growth. We are uniquely positioned to tap into the characteristics - an ancient culture, expanding economy, vibrant democracy, spirituality, diversity, and a widespread Diaspora – which provide India with core attributes that are attractive to the World. Examples of success abound, Bollywood today reaches an audience twice as large as that of Hollywood; our Information Technology industry competes globally; Yoga has become mainstream in the west, and even the IIT's and IIM's have become synonymous with world class education. India's philanthropic efforts in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and more recently the aid offered to countries affected by the tsunami underscores our concern for the world around us. For India to truly become a tour de force in the community of nations, it needs to look at its weaknesses and turn them into our biggest opportunity by offering the world.

Much of India's soft power, like much of America's, or France's or Japan's, for that matter, derives from its cultural exports. Indian-origin authors, from Salman Rushdie to Arundhati Roy, to Rohinton Mistry to Jhumpa Lahiri, who write in English, have become among the most celebrated in the Western literary world.

Films and literature are helping transform India's image in the West, including in the United States, from that of a remote, unknowably exotic, and revoltingly poor country into a country with which Americans can find similarities among the differences. When Indian filmmakers or sportspeople succeed internationally or when Indian writers win the Booker or Pulitzer Prizes, our country's soft power is enhanced. Indian cuisine has taken over the world. One may hear an American making kebabs for his bar-b-que party on a Sunday afternoon or Europeans opting for Chicken buttermasala or Biryani for a fancy dinner with friends and family. The number of Indian restaurants in any part of the world today is hard to count on one's finger tips.

[ BY GAURI KUMAR ]