Gen Rawat’s ‘Clash of Civilisation’ Remark

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Gen Rawat’s ‘Clash of Civilisation’ Remark

Speaking before a gathering of Delhi’s strategic community on 15 September, the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat asked whether China’s growing engagement with Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan would lead to the rebooting of the ‘Clash of Civilisations’ theory with the Chinese and Islamic civilisations joining against the Western world? The query raised by the CDS, writes Lt Gen (retd) Dr Prakash Menon  (Director, Strategic Studies Programme, Takshashila Institution; former Military Adviser, National Security Council Secretariat) “was part of an intellectual discourse and not, by any standards, a policy statement.”

A day later, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar clarified to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Dushanbe: “India had never subscribed to any clash of civilisations theory”.

The CDS, writes the former General  “should avoid making public statements that could, in any manner, adversely impact India’s foreign relations. And the only way to minimise such occurrences is by keeping away from the media and public relations exercises.

“The CDS and all military leaders must eschew the projection of personality through the media. They are better felt or seen and not heard; their appearance in the media should ideally be restricted to some special or ceremonial occasions…..”

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