Role of the Vishwa Guru
Geniuses like Shakespeare, Kalidas, Valmiki and Kambar do not appear in a vacuum. They are the product of a tradition of excellence that grows over years through the efforts of individuals who make their contribution and then lose their identity in the vast fog of history.
Shakespeare was not the only star in his age. Under the influence of Greek plays, the Elizabethan period became an age of playwrights of almost equal merit. Later analyses discovered in Shakespeare's writing a kind of depth that pushed him above others, but during his own days Marlowe, Johnson and Ben Jonson stood equal to him.
In our country, a period of one century before the departure of the British produced great literary figures, thinkers and scientists. Rabindra Nath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Swami Vivekananda, Dr. CV Raman, Dr Jagdish Chander Bose, Jay Shankar Prasad, Dinakar, Ghalib, Iqbal and a host of other great men arose because of an atmosphere created by the British.
If India is to become the Vishwa Guru, we must recapture a system of excellence that existed during half-a-century before the departure of the British. With all the damage we might have suffered because of colonisation, the British introduced a new value-system in our country where genuine achievement was valued and honoured.
Modi-haters hate every idea that comes from him. So, too, they hate the idea of India as Vishwa Guru. They feel happy whenever they get a chance to prove that India is not and cannot become the Vishwa Guru. Attainment of that status will be Modi's success --- and that is not acceptable to these Modi-haters. Nationalism is dangerous because Modi is a nationalist.
The British presented the hundred-year period between 1815, the year of Napoleon's fall to 1914, the year when the first world war started as Pax Britannica, a period when British domination brought about peace in the world. This is how proud nations attribute achievements to themselves and their leaders. In India some people prefer to decry their own traditions and their own leaders. We must all work to cultivate national pride and a vision of India as a Vishwa Guru. For this, it is necessary that every achievement is valued and honoured.