This is likely to help generate necessary conceptual resources to reinforce India’s position as Vishwa Guru.

The conference will also revisit the ties that bind India and Southeast Asia through the exploration of connectivities beyond the myopic lenses of colonial trappings and long-lasting legacies of discrimination and domination: specifically British hegemony over all of South Asia (present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka) and many parts of Southeast Asia (modern Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore).

With rapid economic changes and globalisation, particularly in the latter part of the twentieth century and at present, there is increasing consciousness in Southeast Asia of an emerging India (its dynamic, tech-savvy and globetrotting professionals and entrepreneurs, the highly acclaimed spiritualism and yoga culture), is perhaps the only counter-option to China’s growing potential for regional dominance. The conference’s outcome will inevitably have far-reaching consequences considering the emerging geo-political scenario in the Indian subcontinent.