When foreign minister Jaishankar impressed Indian diaspora in Sweden with 'ghee shakkar' remark

Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is not known for mincing words when it comes to facing tough diplomatic questions. But the diplomat recently showed that he could also be a man of humour while engaging with the public.

Jaishankar was recently in Sweden as part of a three-nation tour and participating in the EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum and during an interaction with members of the Indian diaspora in the Scandinavian nation, he left the audience in splits while responding to a question on the globalisation of the Indian culture.

India's external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar interacts with the Indian community during his visit to Stockholm. Sweden, on May 14, 2023. (ANI Photo)

When he was asked whether in this age of a globalised world, the West would start eating 'paani puri' (a popular Indian street food) instead of hamburger and H&M t-shirts will have New Delhi printed on it instead of New York, Jaishankar said, "There is a term, which says "aapke muh mein ghee shakkar" (what you are saying, hope it comes true). The audience laughed and clapped hearing his response.

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"I actually can see this globalisation of Indian culture happening. And it is happening for a variety of factors. One, of course, is because of the spread of the diaspora. The second is, we ourselves, I think, are much more confidently expressing it. It's important we try to find ways of making it (globalisation of Indian culture) more universal," Jaishankar said.

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One very good example of that is actually this initiative, which started in 2015, of celebrating the International Day of Yoga introduced by prime minister Narendra Modi who spoke about it in the US, the diplomat added.

"I must say, in all honesty, none of us actually could even imagine it would catch on, the way it does now. There is not a country in the world where that enthusiasm for yoga is not there...," he added.

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"But there are other areas you know, it could be music, it could be cinema, I mean, the power of culture. And I think that's the strength of India. It's a strength of India which we have not brought into play in the manner in which we could, we should. And I hope people like you can be so enthusiastic I'm sure everybody else will join you," Jaishankar said.

The external affairs minister interacted with the Indian community on Sunday (14) evening and apprised them of the progress in the bilateral relationship between India and Sweden which completed 75 years this year.

(With PTI inputs)