Striking Right Chords: Modi’s Sharp Showmanship @G20 Is India’s Crowning Moment
The QuintThe inclusion of the African Union as the 21st member to usher in the G21 is richly symbolic of what was once a rich man's club into an inclusive, humanitarian group to tackle the world's economic and social challenges. That brings us to the showmanship clearly evident at the Bharat Mandapam at the location which in Indira Gandhi's era was named 'Pragati Maidan' or Progress Ground. The Hindu cultural symbols used by Modi at the venue to showcase India's art and heritage may be seen by critics as a way of playing religious politics in international garb and they may not necessarily be wrong. But it must be equally remembered that neither his slogan of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam rephrased for G20 as 'One Earth, One Family, One Future', nor Hindu symbolism are necessarily a Bharatiya Janata Party thing and its love for Hindu nationalism. Carnatic music icon MS Subbulakshmi sang in October 1966 at the United Nations General Assembly a prayer penned by the Hindu pontiff Sri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati of Kanchi.
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