Shashi Tharoor hails India’s soft power generated by Yoga Day, vaccine diplomacy and Bollywood-OxBig News Network

Noting that no country in today’s world can expand its area of influence without having considerable soft power, senior Congress leader Shashsi Tharoor has hailed India’s soft power unleashed by Yoga Day, vaccine diplomacy and Bollywood, saying it created a positive image of the country and generated goodwill across the world.

Delivering the 10^th Dr. L.M. Singhvi Memorial Lecture on ‘India’s Soft Power’ here last evening, Tharoor said, “In today’s world, soft power has become a key tool in geo-political strategy embraced across the globe. In the instant mass communication fuelled by the Internet, countries are judged by a global audience constantly consuming news, images and viral content.”

He, however, sought to emphasise that “Soft power becomes credible only when there is hard power behind it” even as he clarified that hard power alone can’t ensure that a nation gets respect in the comity of nations.

Tharoor said soft power was not about governmental action alone as it’s partly created by the governments and partly despite governments; and partly by deliberate action which is known as diplomacy.

“When millions around the world roll out Yoga mats on the International Yoga Day, they aren’t just performing a series of postures…They are engaging with something which embodies balance between ancient wisdom and modern wellness. In doing so they embrace a cultural gift from India which goes beyond the physical…,” he said.

The UK has its British Council; the US has Fulbright Scholarships; while India has its modest Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to promote India’s cultural exchanges internationally. The US, France, Germany, Portugal and Italy also have their own institutes to promote their respective soft power, he said.

He, however, said, China’s Confucius Institute has witnessed a meteoric expansion as Beijing has been aggressively establishing Confucius Institutes across the world in a bid to promote Chinese culture and Mandarin language education.

“As of 2024, the Chinese had already set up 525 Confucius Institutes and 1,076 Confucius classrooms in 142 countries, including 165 in Europe, 112 in the US—either completely or partially aided directly by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International…135 of these institutions were carefully in 51 countries that fell on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative,” Tharoor said.

Quoting Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye, Tharoor said, “Soft power is the ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion or payment. A country’s soft power rests on its resources of culture, values and policies.”

He added, “A smart-power strategy combines hard- and soft-power resources.”