With politicians across the globe harping on nationalism to woo voters, the idea of world shirking into one global village looks now very distant, unless, of course, humanism triumphs over to take centrestage in global politics. The statement is coming from none other than Sandeep Waslekar, who is well-known internationally for expertise in conflict resolution. While outlining the current global order, Waslekar said, the world is sitting on a powder keg. Rising ambition, personal rather than national, means humanity needs to keep fingers crossed as the situation is

getting murkier day-by-day, he added.

Waslekar was in city to promote his new book, World Without War, on Thursday. During an interaction with local mediapersons at Patrakar Club of Nagpur, Waslekar provided a deep insight into international relations vis-a-vis Indian diplomacy, and praised the non-aligned stance adopted by Indian Government in the current scenario.

“The way Indian political leadership handled the Russia-Ukraine war, it has sharply divided the world order. The country rulers have deftly managed to strike a balance by adopting neutral stand in the murky international politics,” said Waslekar. The very idea of non-aligned status, he said, has been Indian stance from start of the regional war and it has paid rich dividends. The international strategist delved into world politics and provided information about a lesser known fact that it was Mahatma Gandhi who was first to float the idea of United Nations.

“While we know that American and Russian leadership drafted the UN charter, it was Gandhiji, who had talked about a common platform. In ‘Harijan’ and ‘Young India’ there were number of references wherein the apostle of peace floated the idea of equality of nations with condition that they would shed their arms and work to uphold ideology of international peace. While most abroad forgot the role of Mahatma Gandhi, it was sad that Indians also did not bother to promote the same,” added Waslekar.

Replying to a query about high pitch nationalism being current trend in the nation, Waslekar pointed out that the situation was more or less similar in all western countries or for that matter many nations were treading on the same path. “Leave India, one can find high-pitched nationalist tones in America, Russia, China, and now Brazil, Turkey, Hungary and many other countries are into hyper nationalism mode. By that standard, ours was quite diluted one. That is why in such scenario, diplomacy remained the best weapon for countries to negotiate and win friends at international forums,” said Waslekar.

Known for his critical role during back channel talks in the past between bitter rivals, India and Pakistan, Israel-Palestine conflict, Waslekar knows well, how to bring nations to negotiations. On present conflicts, the situation is grim, he adds.

When nuclear-armed countries are not willing to back track, it takes only a small provocation to trigger the boom and strategists world over work overnight to prevent it, he said.

Commenting on Indo-Pak rivalry, the international strategist said, there is a little chance of a full-fledged war as both nuclear-armed nations do know the consequences. Unless, of course, if the non-Government organisations (terrorists) are not reined in, the option for India in that scenario remains quite limited, he opined. He also commented on economic distress and internal troubles in South-East Asian countries. “This is a major worry for Indian think-tank and leadership as it could spill over and cause trouble for our country in foreseeable future,” he said.

Earlier, Shripad Aprajit, Resident Editor, Maharashtra Times, introduced Sandeep Waslekar.