Politically, little remains of Mahatma Gandhi 75 years after India’s independence. Instead of the tolerance preached by Gandhi, today the Hindu nationalism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party prevails. The “Wiener Zeitung” spoke with South Asia expert Christian Wagner about the roots of Modi’s power and how India sees itself on the international stage.
“Wiener Zeitung”: Narendra Modi’s government is currently renovating New Delhi, including colonial-era buildings. To what extent does this reflect the prime minister’s political project?
After decades of non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi, India gained independence on August 15, 1947. Gandhi was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic shortly afterwards. After gaining independence, India fought four wars with Pakistan, and the two nuclear powers still fight over areas in Kashmir. For a long time, the dominant political force in the country of 1.4 billion people was the Congress Party. The Hindu nationalist BJP has been in power since 2014.
Christian Wagner: Modi not only distances himself from the colonial era, but also sees himself as the founder and creator of a new India. This is symbolized by a new architecture. Colonial legacy and colonial traditions – and therefore perhaps also the democracy that shaped India for so long as a result of colonial legacy – must be fundamentally changed.
Christian Wagner is an expert at the Berlin-based Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, focusing on Indian foreign policy, democracy and minorities. He taught at several German universities.
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What should this new India look like?
Modi wants to build a Hindu nation in which Hindu concerns take precedence over minority concerns.
To what extent does this project jeopardize democracy?
We have seen a number of autocratic trends in recent years. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are severely restricted, access to the Internet is repeatedly restricted and several NGOs are no longer allowed to operate in India. These restrictions also significantly reduced the separation of powers.
Modi also doesn’t seem to be able to stop anything. Several intellectuals and, of course, the opposition criticize him harshly, but he always wins elections in a superior way.
If individual intellectuals criticize events, then they have some support, but they are just individual voices. The political opposition is leaderless and divided. Modi benefits from this weakness. Even if the BJP is consistently defeated in state elections, there is no telling how it will be defeated in the next national elections. Modi is the most popular politician, he has the most compelling narrative with Hindu nationalism, which wants to make India a great nation again. In addition, the BJP has the best party organization and, most importantly, has the most money.
Yoga Modes: No politician is currently more popular.
– © AFP / Manujunath Kiran
How can Hindu nationalism become a driving force in politics?
When Modi became prime minister in 2014, the narrative of Hindu nationalism was not yet at the forefront. He won the election primarily because he criticized the ruling party’s corruption in Congress and the country’s development deficits. In recent years, especially since the 2019 elections, Hindu nationalism has come to the fore.
What does this mean for minorities like the Muslim population?
They are increasingly under pressure. There are campaigns against Muslims and corresponding legislation – for example, against conversion or a law against the slaughter of cows. This is also aimed at Muslims, because they are often the butchers in the villages.
This does not necessarily correspond to the image of Hinduism that the West likes to have – namely as a polytheistic, tolerant and diverse religion.
It is important to distinguish between Hinduism and Hindu nationalism. The ideology of the BJP is called Hindutva, which translates to Hinduism. Religion is just a part of it – and this ideology partially differs from religion, so it is against the caste system. This ideology includes the idea of a common culture, a common glorious history to be restored, and also alien concepts as a common race. This is because Hindutva ideology emerged in the 1920s, borrowing from Italian fascism and European nationalism. So religion is just a part of Hindutva.
The BJP’s laws, which primarily discriminate against Muslims, have repeatedly provoked angry protests.
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Has this ideology also changed India’s self-image on a global level?
Even under the Congress Party, India has presented itself as a self-confident actor on an international level. The BJP reinforced this again. India has regained more self-confidence, but this is also due to growing rivalry with China. India is now more closely linked with the US to counter Chinese hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific, along with Japan and Australia.
India is in border conflict with China, but at the same time it is closely linked economically to the People’s Republic. How is the relationship now?
China is the central fixed point for understanding Indian foreign policy. India has traditionally seen itself on an equal footing with China. In fact, the two countries were still on an equal footing economically in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That has changed significantly 30 years later. And the People’s Republic is the central threat to India today. Attempts have long been made to peacefully manage rivalries with China through economic contacts. Until recently, China was still the biggest bilateral trading partner, and there was also cooperation in international bodies, for example in climate negotiations. Then, in 2020, there was a border incident that killed 20 Indian soldiers. China thus buried the policy of rapprochement between the two states. And in my opinion it also canceled the agreements that existed on the complicated traffic jams on the border, where no one knows exactly where it is. Because China now sees India as part of the dispute with the US and in the US camp. But India doesn’t see it that way. Although it cooperates with the US in the Indo-Pacific, it considers the border dispute with China to be bilateral.
Indian soldiers on the border with China: The exact course of the border is still disputed to this day.
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How to understand India’s position in the Ukraine war in this context? Here, New Delhi refrains from condemning the Russian war of aggression, as demanded by the US.
India’s strong military dependence on Russia and heated conflict with China are decisive for India’s position on this issue. It would now be an absolute nightmare for India if a sanctions-weakened Russia were to bond more closely with China and restrict its arms exports to India. Furthermore, India does not want to break with Russia because it is the most important partner in the UN Security Council – for example, when the Kashmir issue is negotiated.
Does India feel forgotten in this European network, which is much more focused on the US and China?
No, because India’s importance has increased significantly because the EU’s view of China has also become much more critical. India is now at the heart of EU strategies in the Pacific region. The EU is also a key partner for India, especially for economic development.
Can India become an alternative to China, on which the EU wants to reduce dependence?
That’s what people have always relied on in India. But just a few weeks ago, the German Asia-Pacific Business Committee wrote an article about India in which it was not as optimistic as one might expect. When companies leave China, they tend to go to Southeast Asia, like Vietnam. Obviously, there are infrastructure, administrative and political issues in India that make the location less attractive than it could be.