NEW DELHI: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday drew a striking parallel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and the ancient wisdom of Kautilya (Chanakya), the legendary strategist and author of the Arthashastra, and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has exemplified Kautilya's philosophy in action.

Speaking at a public forum, Dhankhar said, "Our Prime Minister has exemplified in action Kautilya's philosophy. Kautilya's thought process is a treatise in governance, virtually encyclopedic for every facet of governance statecraft, security, role of the king now those elected. In our multipolar world of shifting alliances."

"We had a concept fly by night concept. Same can be seen with the alliances. Kautilya imagined then that this will be ever shifting. Let me quote Kautilya: 'A neighboring state is an enemy, and enemy's enemy is a friend.' Which country knows better than Bharat? We always believe in global peace, global fraternity, and global welfare," he added.

Interacting with the Kautilya fellows from the India Foundation in New Delhi, Dhankhar said, "Our Prime Minister, a great visionary, believes in big scale. He believes in massive transformation. And after a decade of governance, the results are written on the wall. It is after a long gap of several decades, that we have a Prime Minister continually in the third term. And that is making all the difference."

Kautilya had one great emphasis, the Vice-President said, "Democracy has to be participatory; development equally has to be participatory. He laid great emphasis on individuals contributing for national welfare. A nation is defined by decorum, discipline  that is individualistic in nature. Similarly, I quote Kautilya: 'Just as one wheel alone does not move a cart'.....Administration cannot be accomplished single-handedly."

He highlighted how this ethos are reflected in contemporary governance, "This nation has an administration which is innovative. In the country, we had some districts that were lagging behind. Bureaucrats did not venture into those areas. Prime Minister Modi created a nomenclature for those districts: 'Aspirational Districts'. And now, those 'Aspirational Districts' have turned out to be lead districts in development. Prime Minister Modi suddenly thought that people are going to metros. Tier 2, Tier 3 cities must also be hubs of economic activity. He devised a mechanism of smart cities. Smart cities were not in the context of infrastructure or beauty. It was in the context of facilities being available for entrepreneurs, for students."

Reflecting on the foundational principles of power and governance, the Vice-President said, "Power is defined by limitations. Democracy is nurtured when we are ever mindful of the limitations of power. If you go deep into Kautilya's philosophy, you will find all this converges only to one essence, nectar of governance welfare of the people."

Quoting Kautilya's Arthashastra, Dhankhar noted, "Kautilya declared, 'The happiness of the king lies in the happiness of his people.' If you look at constitutions of any country that are democratic, you will find this philosophy is the underlying spirit and essence of democratic governance and democratic values."

Concluding with a reflection on India's civilizational ethos, the Vice-President remarked, "Democracy is nurtured best when expression and dialogue complement each other. That distinguishes democracy from any other form of governance. And in India, democracy did not start with our Constitution coming into force or we getting independent from foreign rule. We have been a democratic nation in spirit for thousands of years. And this expression and dialogue, complementary mechanism Abhivyakti, Vaad Vivaad has been known in Vedic culture as Anant Vaad."