External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday cited Lord Hanuman's Lanka episode from Ramayan to explain the role of a diplomat.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar spoke at the Delhi University Literature Festival on Saturday. (File image) (@DrSJaishankar)
Speaking at the Delhi University Literature Festival, Jaishankar said, “Hanumanji, just look at it, he is being sent by Prabhu Shri Ram to a hostile territory. Say, go there, kind of figure out the lay of the land... The most difficult part of it is actually going and meeting her and keeping up her morale. But he is able to actually get into Ravan's court by surrendering himself. He is able to understand the dynamics of the court.”
Jaishankar also said Lord Hanuman's approach helped him to gauge the intentions of Vibeeshan after his defection to Lord Ram's side.
“Don't tempt me,” said the minister in a light-hearted manner when the moderator asked if he had attempted to set a place he was sent to on fire.
The Rajya Sabha MP cited Lord Ram's strategy among his allies as an example on how India is building a coalition of like-minded countries with differing needs and aspirations in international relations.
“When you say foreign policy diplomacy, what is it about? It's a common sense thing, in a way. How do you maximize your friends? How do you propose them for a job or a task at hand? How do you manage, because sometimes you have a large group of people, how do you manage all of them to create a coalition? Now, what are we trying to do today at Bharat? We are trying to increase our number of friends. We are trying to get different countries, all of whom may be a little bit, you know, they may not all be on the same page, but we are trying to get them all together and work towards an end. Now, this kind of coalition building is very important,” ANI quoted Jaishankar as saying.
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Home/India News/EAM Jaishankar cites Lord Hanuman's role in Lanka to explain challenges as diplomat
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