Mahatma Gandhi knew the importance of soft power: Doval

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 M J Akbar, 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 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.

The foreword to the book Gandhi: A Life in Three Campaigns has been written by K Natwar Singh, who is also a former Minister of External Affairs of India.

Akbar is a distinguished author whose many books have focused on social schisms and religious tensions fomented by colonial policy.

He has had a parallel career as an editor and reporter. During his long career in journalism, he launched, as editor, India's first weekly political news magazine, Sunday, in 1976, and two daily newspapers, The Telegraph in 1982 and The Asian Age in 1994.

Akbar also served as the Minister of State for External Affairs during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first tenure at the Centre.

He is also the author of books such as Gandhi's Hinduism the Struggle Against Jinnah's Islam, India: The Siege Within; Nehru: The Making of India; Kashmir: Behind the Vale; The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity.