Man of the Hour : Narendra Modi

The hour is undoubtedly Narendra Modi′s. Here are his thoughts captured during the course of the Indian election campaign which gives an insight into the direction he will take on foreign policy matters. Will your foreign policy be a muscular foreign policy I do not understand the meaning of a 'muscular policy'. I have never heard such a phrase in international relations. International relations are based on mutual understanding and mutual cooperation. I don't think in the 21st century, any muscular policy can work. Even within a country, muscular politics has no space; in democracy not at all. Rest assured, as far as India is concerned, our history does not support such politics. Our attitude does not reflect such a manner. At the same time, we have a cultural heritage which is vasudhaiv kutumbakam - the whole world is one family; the whole globe is one family. Hence in the future only cooperation can work and we will all have to work to help the poor countries of the world. We have to work for humanitarian causes and have to unite against terrorism. This should be the global motto. As Prime Minister, would you re-focus India's foreign policy along the 'Look East' direction Firstly, whether it is 'Look East' or 'Look West', it should not be compared and we should not think about our foreign relations with reference to someone. When we talk about the East, it does not mean we are denying the West - that is not a proper philosophy. It is said that this century is Asia′s century. Please comment. At the same time, the whole world has accepted that the 21st century is Asia's century. And if that is so, it is the duty of each and every country that we must have a proactive policy for the Eastern part of the world because this is the fact of our times. But if that's the vision, it does not mean denying the West. How can I deny even the smallest country of the world In the future, the responsibility on India is very high globally. Now India is not simply one of the countries. India is THE country and the world will have to accept it. What will guide India′s foreign policy We do not want to be confrontational with any country. Foreign policy cannot be conducted by having a confrontational approach with neighbours or for that matter with any other country. We have to conduct our foreign policy with all other nations and specially our neighbours with a sense of trust and mutual cooperation. However, supremacy of national interest has to be one of the basic planks of foreign policy. These are excerpts of interviews conducted by ANI and Times of India