Ahead of his visit to Beijing this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said both India and China have “learnt from history” in dealing with border dispute. In an extensive interview to Time magazine on the occasion of his completing a year in power in India after a stupendous election win, he answered questions on a variety of subjects.
While admitting that a large part of the long Sino-Indian border was still disputed, Modi said, “Since nearly last three decades until this time that we have entered into the 21st Century, there is by and large peace and tranquillity on the India-China border.
“It is not a volatile border. Not a single bullet has been fired for over a quarter of a century now. This essentially goes to prove that both countries have learnt from history.
“I think both countries have shown great maturity in the last couple of decades to ensure and commit to economic cooperation which has continued to grow over the last 20 to 30 years to a stage where we currently have an extensive trade, investment and project related engagement between the two countries.
“Given the current economic situation in the world, we are at a stage where we cooperate with China at the international stage but we also compete with China when it comes to commerce and trade.”
On China’s growing influence in the world, Modi said: “I firmly believe that there is not a single country in the world, whether its population is one million or much more, which would not want to increase its influence internationally.
“I think it is a very natural tendency for nations to increase their influence in the international space, as they pursue their international relations with different countries.” Time magazine asked him if he would like to give a special message to Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of his visit.
“I firmly believe that the relationship between two countries, the India-China relationship as you are referring to, should be such that to communicate with each other there should really not be a need for us to go through a third entity,” he said.
“That is the level of relationship that we currently have.” On terrorism, Modi has said the world must stop distinguishing terrorists between good and bad terrorists.
“We should not look at terrorism from the nameplates, which group they belong to, what is their geographical location, who are the victims,” Modi said, adding, “These individual groups or names will keep changing. Today you are looking at the Taliban or ISIS; tomorrow you might be looking at another name,” in an oblique criticism of the US policies.
Elaborating, the Prime Minister said it was important not to analyze or look at terrorism from a purely political perspective but also view it from the perspective of the way it attacks human values, as a force against humanity.
“If you view terrorism in Syria from one perspective and terrorism outside Syria from another perspective, it can create problems. “If you view terrorism in categories such as good terrorism and bad terrorism, that too can create its own challenges. Similarly, if you view Taliban as good Taliban or bad Taliban, that creates its own problems.”
Modi went on: “We should not look at these questions individually. We should address this problem in one voice, not in segmented voices something which diffuses the international focus when it comes to the problem of terrorism. I believe that this can be easily done.”
Modi also made it clear that terrorism must be de-linked from religion, adding he had made the request to US President Barack Obama both in September last year and in January this year, “If we are able to achieve this and if we go down this path, it would at least put an end to the emotional blackmailing which is inherent in this particular concept. It would also help us additionally to isolate the terrorists completely who tend to use this interchange of arguments between terrorism and religion.”
Talking about the Indo-US relationship Modi said India and the US were natural allies and instead of asking what one can do for the other, they should look at what they can do together for the world.
"If I have to describe the India-US relationship in a single word, I will say we are natural allies," he said. "I think the relationship between India and US, and the two countries in themselves, have played an enormously important role and continue to play an important role in strengthening democratic values all over the world," Modi said.
To a question on the reasons for banning the BBC documentary on the December 16, 2012 gangrape case and if free speech should have some limits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his Government was fully committed to freedom of speech and clarified that the decision to ban telecast of the documentary was related to questions of law, the judicial process and respecting the victim.
“So in so far as freedom of speech is concerned, there is absolutely not an iota of doubt in terms of our commitment and our belief in that,” he said. On the BBC documentary “India's Daughter”, which was banned from being telecast, he said the issue did not concern freedom of speech but was “more a legal issue”.
“It (issue of banning telecast of the BBC documentary “India's Daughter”) has two or three aspects. One aspect is that the identity of the rape victim should not be revealed which would have happened if this interview was allowed to be telecast. “Two, the case is still sub-judice and the telecast which features the interview of the person who is alleged to have committed the crime could have impacted the judicial process.
“Three, it is also our responsibility to ensure protection of the victim. If we had allowed such a thing to happen, in effect, we would have violated the dignity of the victim,” Modi said. On criticism over minority issues, the Prime Minister has asserted that that his Government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion.
He said his and the BJP's philosophy was “Sabka saath, sabka vikas - Together with all, progress for all. “Wherever a (negative) view might have been expressed (about) a minority religion, we have immediately negated that,” he said in the two-hour-long interview.
“So far as the Government is concerned, there is only one holy book, which is the Constitution of India. The unity and the integrity of the country are the topmost priorities. “All religions and all communities have the same rights, and it is my responsibility to ensure their complete and total protection,” the Prime Minister said.