DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i04.007

Pages: 828-834

Shashi Tharoor, one of the diehard Indologists, is a staunch supporter of the theory that India is one of the credible contenders in the race for 21st Century superpower; however, he is of the opinion that India has to face numerous domestic and international challenges before it can aspire to even participate in the race for hard power supremacy in the near future. He argues that India would do well if it can concentrate on improving its soft power and at the same time eradicating poverty and politico-economical backwardness and establish internal and external peace and security. Shashi Tharoor warns the Indian masses and the political leaders that any venture of India to play Big Brother in the Asiatic region or any attempt to communalize India will equivocally have disastrous consequences and such a turn of events would certainly make the chances of India becoming a superpower in the 21st Century even remote and almost fantastic unless India strives hard to use its natural soft power more effectively and become a smart power instead of a superpower.