How can civilisational and cultural diplomacy strengthen India's leadership in the SCO? Illustrate with recent examples.

India's civilisational links span Central Asia, China and Russia through Buddhism, the Silk Route and Sufi traditions. Cultural diplomacy lets India lead the SCO beyond its security-heavy agenda. India's 2022–23 presidency added Shared Buddhist Heritage as one of five new areas of cooperation [1].

How cultural diplomacy strengthens India's leadership

• Agenda-setting: it moves the SCO towards themes where India leads naturally, such as heritage, traditional medicine, startups and youth [1].
• Overcoming language barriers: Russian and Chinese are the SCO's only official languages [1]. Translating Indian works into them gives India a wider audience.
• Trust with Central Asia: shared Buddhist and Silk Route memory makes up for India's lack of direct land connectivity with the region.
• A channel during hostility: cultural forums keep ministerial contact with Pakistan alive while bilateral ties are frozen [2].

Recent examples

• 2020 Chair of the Council of Heads of Government: India held the first SCO Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage, translated 10 classics of Indian regional literature into Russian and Chinese, and hosted a seminar on traditional medicine for SDG-3 [1].
• Varanasi became the first SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital (2022–23) and hosted events with member states taking part [1].
• 'SECURE' presidency: more than 130 meetings and events, including 14 at ministerial level [1].
• SCO Civilisational Dialogue, New Delhi (20–22 November 2026): India invited Pakistan's Culture Minister. This was its first ministerial invitation to Pakistan since 2023, and Islamabad publicly backed "dialogue among civilisations" [2].

Limits

• Pakistan sent its Climate Change Minister instead, a critic of India's decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. This risks turning a cultural forum into a political dispute [2].
• Cultural goodwill cannot replace connectivity and economic presence, where China has more weight.

Way forward

• Institutionalise the Civilisational Dialogue as a regular SCO track, linked with ICCR scholarships, Buddhist tourism circuits and traditional-medicine cooperation.
• As host, keep forums on their stated agenda. Answer disputes calmly rather than by excluding anyone.

Cultural diplomacy turns India's civilisational depth into agenda-setting power within a security-focused grouping. If it is sustained through institutions and kept apart from bilateral disputes, India can become the SCO's bridge between Eurasia and South Asia, in keeping with the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.