Lord Krishna, Hanuman greatest diplomats of world: EAM Jaishankar

PUNE, JAN 29 (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said Lord Krishna and Lord Hanuman were the greatest diplomats of the world.

He was speaking on Saturday while interacting with the audience in Maharashtra’s Pune city in a question-answer session during the launch of ‘Bharat Marg’, the Marathi translation of his book ‘The India Way’.

Jaishankar said, “Lord Shri Krishna and Lord Hanuman were the greatest diplomats of the world. I am saying this very seriously.”

If one looks at them in the perspective of diplomacy, what situation they were in, what mission was

S Jaishankar

given to them, how they had handled the situation, he said. “Hanumanji, he had gone ahead of the mission, he had contacted Goddess Sita, burnt Lanka...he was a multi-purpose diplomat,” Jaishankar said.

The minister said for the world’s 10 big strategic concepts pertaining to international relations in today’s discourse, he could give an equivalent for every concept from the epic Mahabharat.

“If you say today it is a multi-polar world, at that time what was happening in Kurukshetra (the site of the battle of Mahabharat), that was multi-polar Bharat, where there were different rajya (kingdoms), they were told ‘you are with them, you are with me’...a couple of them were non-aligned...like Balram and Rukma.” ers and workers, resumed the final lap of the yatra in Jammu and Kashmir from Srinagar’s Pantha Chowk around 10:45 am.

“What was Arjuna’s dilemma, it was constraint, that he was emotionally interdependent...that how do I fight against my relatives. That was not material interdependence, but it was emotional interdependence,” he said.

Those part of the march walked for about eight kilometres to Sonwar raising slogans such as “Jodo Jodo Bharat Jodo”, and along the way, were cheered and greeted by locals.

Within a multi-layer security ring, Gandhi, in a white T-shirt which he has sported for most of the over 4,000-kilometre yatra from India’s southern tip, waved at people as yatris, including a large number of women, carrying the tricolour and Congress flags, moved towards Sonwar.

After reaching their destination, Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other senior party leaders drove to the party’s headquarters at M A Road here. Later, they headed to Lal Chowk, where the former Congress president unfurled the national flag.

“By hoisting the tricolour at Lal Chowk, the promise made to India was fulfilled today. Hate will lose, love will always win. There will be a new dawn of hopes in India,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi after the event.

The yatra, which was launched on September 7 last year in Kanyakumari, has traversed 12 states and two Union Territories. It will culminate with the hoisting of the national flag at the Congress office here on Monday.

Yatris of the footmarch led Gandhi will halt for the night at the Nehru Park here.

On Monday, a public rally will also be held at the SK Stadium for which 23 opposition political parties have been invited by the Congress.

Earlier in the day, All India Congress Committee general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam

Ramesh on Twitter said the flag unfurling was planned for Monday but had to be done a day earlier.

“@RahulGandhi was supposed to unfurl national flag on Jan 30th in PCC office, since permission to do so elsewhere wasn’t given. Last evening, state administration allowed him to do so in Lal Chowk, but under condition that it should be done today on 29th at end of #BharatJodoYatra,” Ramesh tweeted. The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ has traversed through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

On Friday, the yatra was cancelled for the day in Anantnag district after the party alleged security lapse, saying police arrangements by the Jammu and Kashmir administration “completely collapsed”.