India speaks for itself now: Why global outreach is not a tamasha

Time of India

25-05-2025

Dr Navneet Anand is a communications professional with a rich tapestry of experience spanning 25 years across media, academia, and the corporate sector. A graduate of Hindu College in Delhi University, Anand went on to complete his MA, MPhil and PhD in Sociology (communications) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, he has been a journalist previously with The Times of India, The Indian Express, and The Pioneer. As the founder-director of GreyMatters Communications & Consulting, Navneet has lent his expertise to a myriad of projects, including serving as a Public Communication Expert for a World Bank initiative, International Labour Organization, many Government and private agencies in India. His corporate journey includes a notable tenure as General Manager of Corporate Affairs & Communication at Fortune 500 company, Reliance Industries Limited. Navneet seamlessly integrates his extensive professional background with his rigorous academic training. He is the author of two acclaimed books, including 'The Media Effect' (2003), and regularly contributes to esteemed national and international journals and publications. A distinguished educator, Navneet imparts knowledge on journalism, social media, marketing & strategic communication, and public relations at esteemed institutions such as Indian Institute of Mass Communication, IIMs, IP University, Delhi University and JNU. With a passion for training and development, Navneet has empowered over 2,500 officials from government, police, and PSUs, while delivering over 500 lectures and training sessions. For insights on social and political issues, reach out to him at [e-mail]. LESS ... MORE
A quote often attributed to Winston Churchill reads: 'Some see private misfortune in public success. They forget the victory belongs to the nation, not to the noise of its doubters.'
In the tense months leading up to D-Day in 1944, Churchill made the momentous decision to back Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in military history. Many in his own cabinet and among military advisors feared the operation would end in disaster. Yet when the tides turned and Allied troops landed successfully on the beaches of Normandy, liberating Europe from fascist rule, some critics continued to murmur, unable to celebrate what was ultimately a national and civilizational triumph.
For a generation of doubters including intellectuals, perception engineers, and custodians of legacy opinion-making, the bold and decisive moves by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of Operation Sindoor have, unsurprisingly, not gone down too well. Visibly irked and sensing private misfortune, their sermonizing on India's diplomacy and its handling of Pakistan has surfaced in varied formats: verbose X threads, camouflaged newspaper columns, and panels in policy dialogues.
What they refuse to acknowledge is the tectonic shift in global power. Political scientist Samuel Huntington anticipated this change in The Clash of Civilizations. He observed that in the post–Cold War world, Western dominance would decline, and its universalist narrative would lose moral currency. At the same time, Asian civilizations, particularly India and China, would grow economically, militarily, and politically. The Islamic world, he warned, would see demographic upheaval with destabilizing consequences. His warning today reads like prophecy.
In this emerging global order, India cannot afford diplomatic timidity. Our outreach via delegations of Members of Parliament, former ministers, diplomats, and strategic experts, is not a joyride or an indulgent spectacle. It is a calibrated and essential assertion of India's role as a rising power.
For many decades before 2014, a select group of journalists and foreign policy experts assumed it was their birthright to accompany every official Indian delegation: from Mongolia to Mozambique, Guyana to Great Britain, Uganda to the United States. That cosy business was shut down with Modi's arrival, and perhaps that's where the pinch lies.
Now, denied their old privileges, the same skeptics struggle to stomach a new Bharat. One that walks into the world's most strategic capitals and says, clearly and confidently: this is who we are. A nation with strength, resolve, and a clear sense of self. No euphemisms. No appeasement. No apologies.
This moment is more than just a response to Operation Sindoor. It is a redefinition of Indian diplomacy. Combating terror is no longer merely a domestic imperative. It is a global message, conveyed with precision and intent. India will not be spoken for. It will speak, and if necessary, act for itself.
Dismissing the all-party delegation's visit as a 'taxpayer-funded vacation' is not just incorrect, it is dishonest. It reduces a serious diplomatic initiative to a caricature. In today's world of weaponised misinformation, India must explain its position globally. Engaging with the international community is not vanity, it is strategy.
Calling this outreach a 'boondoggle' ignores the stakes of global opinion-making. Silence can be misinterpreted. Propaganda can metastasize if left unchallenged. The India of today cannot afford to leave narratives to others. It must shape them, assertively and truthfully.
Likewise, calling India's diplomatic messaging a display of 'victimhood' is a shallow interpretation. Nations have every right to highlight terrorism, expose international duplicity, and demand accountability. These are not signs of insecurity; instead they are expressions of sovereign confidence. Strategic autonomy does not mean silence. Nor does it mean forfeiting the right to demand solidarity when the cause is just.
A multi-party delegation member and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi during an interaction with prominent figures, in Bahrain.
For far too long, Pakistan and its proxies cultivated a sympathetic network within India including essayists in editorial offices, content creators posing as conflict analysts. After Operation Sindoor, they were subdued. But as soon as India began reaffirming its message to the world, their discomfort resurfaced.
A multi-party delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor being welcomed by Ambassador of India to the United States of America Vinay Kwatra, in New York.
This time, however, the message is different. It is firm. It is public. You are either with us, or you are not. And this will no longer be whispered in closed rooms. It will be said aloud — in Geneva, in Brussels, in New York, in Tokyo — wherever India's voice needs to be heard.
Because this is not about Modi. It is about India. And India is speaking for itself now.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.