Mahatma Gandhi was a great strategist who used to think much beyond his times: NSA Ajit Doval

New Delhi, Jan 12: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday called Mahatma Gandhi “a great strategist” and said that the revered Indian leader knew the importance of utilising soft power against the brute forces during the freedom struggle.

At the launch event of the book "Gandhi: A Life in Three Campaigns" authored by MJ Akbar, Ajit Doval said, "Gandhi was a great strategist. He could understand and he could just think that in this asymmetrical war, probably his tools will have to be different. After the Second World War, people started realising that there could be other alternatives to brute force."

"Gandhi realised that his moral force, which we call soft power, would be able to defeat much more hard power. Now research has been done which determine that there are many powers that became great after exercising soft power," he added. Doval further stated that Mahatma Gandhi had the power to think beyond the situations. "He was a great strategian, a great warrior, who would think much beyond his times. I think this (book) is a great tribute to him. What a great man of conviction he was, we must take note of how his belief systems were shaping his ideology, political choices and the decisions he took," he said.