Modi’s Buddha mantra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an enthusiastic participant at an international Buddhist conclave topped off in Bodh Gaya, the primary pilgrimage of world Buddhism, last Saturday. This could possibly be indicative of future Indian efforts to seek to leverage this country as the place where the Buddha story began in reinforcing relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Far East, where most practising Buddhists of the world live.

For quite some time this region has been among the most rapidly growing in the world in economic terms which has, of late, been subjected to threats and bitterness harvested as a consequence of China’s rise as a great power.

But it could not have gone unnoticed that the Dalai Lama, the great master of Tibetan Buddhism who came to shelter in India from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, was conspicuous by his absence at the Bodh Gaya meet in which monks from dozens of nations took part.

Possibly this suggests that New Delhi’s strategy potential in wooing the Buddhist nations has no place for a discontented China. Beijing is averse to any international forum being offered to the Dalai Lama and vociferously protests invitations being extended to the great Tibetan spiritualist.

The Prime Minister underlined a Hindu-Buddhist unity of perspectives in religio-philosophical terms and in the context of conflict avoidance at a time when religious bigots and non-state actors promoted by them — a scarcely disguised hint at Islamist forces — are exerting a malign influence. India’s pitch can be useful if standard diplomatic tools are kept well-honed and India itself avoids bigotry.