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    PM Narendra Modi keen on projecting India as a ‘soft power’, uses Buddha connect in foreign policy

    Synopsis

    Modi leading the prayers on Buddha Poornima Diwas is part of the government’s growing focus on Buddhist activism as part of its foreign policy.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the prayers on International Buddha Poornima Diwas is part of the government’s growing focus on Buddhist activism as part of its foreign policy.

    India is likely to bolster its ‘Look East Act East’ policy with a good dose of Buddhism and project it as a cultural and civilisational bridge with the countries in South East Asia. Modi himself gave enough indications of this in his speech on Monday. He said: “It is said that the 21st century will be Asia’s century. There is no disagreement on that.” And then he added, “Without Buddha this century cannot be Asia’s century.”

    This is what Indian government is working at — to put Buddhism at the heart of India’s diplomacy in the region. According to top sources in the government, Modi is keen on projecting India as a “soft power” using the Buddha connect in both the political and economic diplomacy.

    It would also help counter China which is actively promoting Buddhism in the Asian neighbourhood by helping build and preserve monasteries in Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. “India is a natural repository of Buddhism. We should be using the deep Buddha connection to our advantage,” said BJP national executive member Seshadri Chari, who was among the main organisers of the Buddha Poornima Diwas in the Capital. He confirmed Modi government’s plan to go big on Buddhist diplomacy.

    “It will have a twin advantage for India. In addition to providing diplomatic leverage in the region, it can also be an entry point to attract tourists. Even world leaders can be taken to Buddhist centres like Bodhgaya and Sarnath,” Chari told ET.

    Modi too said, “During all my foreign visits, one day is always set aside to visit a Buddhist temple.” He had prayed at famous Toji and Kinkakuji Buddhist temples in Japan last September. During his Sri Lanka visit in March, Modi had addressed Buddhist monks at Colombo’s Mahabodhi Temple and prayed to the Mahabodhi tree in Anuradhapura. In China, he will visit President Xi Jinping’s hometown Xi’an, where they are expected to visit the Great Wild Goose pagoda, dedicated to famous Buddhist pilgrim Hiuen Tsang or Xuanzang as he is called in China.

    Xi’an houses the monastery where Hiuen Tsang lived and wrote about his travels to India 1,400 years ago. In South Korea, the PM is expected to plant a “Bodhi tree” sapling that India had sent to Seoul in March last year, which had now grown 160 cm tall. “It will be replanted in either Seoul or Busan that has a large Buddhist population,” the government official said, adding there were some plans for Ulan Bator too, where majority of the population is Buddhist.

    Chari, also an advisor to International Buddhist Confederation, said India would host a conference next year, where practitioners of all kinds of Buddhism from various countries practicing the religion will be invited.


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