Modi and Moditva

This chapter examines the life and political career of Narendra Modi, from his origins in Gujarat to his time with the Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and his move into politics, first as a backroom figure and then as a politician. It explores too his time as Gujarat Chief Minister, from 2001 to 2014, and the political style he evolved to manage that state. It looks at Modi’s relationship with the Hindu nationalist tradition and the development of his version of Hindutva, which some term Moditva (Modi-ness). Finally, it lays out Modi’s rise to national prominence and his leadership methods as Prime Minister.

Nonalignment to Multialignment

This chapter outlines, by way of background, the evolution of Indian foreign and security policy after the country became independent in 1947. It discusses Jawaharlal Nehru’s dominance in the first phase and the generation of a Nehruvian tradition of thought about India’s international relations. It then explores the shift to a more realist approach under Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, and the post-Cold War transformation of foreign policy, prompted by a looming crisis in India’s economic and diplomatic circumstances. It traces the emergence of a more confident policy of ‘multialignment’ during the 2000s, as India’s economy grew and its regional importance developed with it. In the conclusion, it outlines Modi’s approach, comparing and contrasting it to those pursued by his immediate predecessors, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Hindu Nationalism and Foreign Policy

This chapter analyses the Hindu nationalist tradition of political thought, focusing on its assessment of international relations and India’s role in the world. It explores the work of a series of Hindu nationalist ideologues, including – among others – Swami Vivekananda, V. D. Savarkar, and Deendayal Upadhyaya. It argues that although their thought is couched in very different terms to those generally used in Western international relations, they provide accounts of the nature of international relations in the modern age, the place of India and its national destiny, as they perceive it, and the manner in which both economic development and national security ought to be pursued by a state infused with what they argue is a proper Hindu ethos.

National Power and Regional Security

This chapter analyses the Modi government’s management of national security. It explores the role played by both inherited Hindu nationalist and newer understandings of India’s role as a potential ‘net security provider’ and ‘leading power’. It examines the government’s handling of India’s relations with China and the United States, as well as with Pakistan. And it addresses the vexed issue of security sector reform and military modernisation. It argues that despite considerable ambition and a concerted and largely successful attempt to build a stronger partnership with the US, Modi’s India struggled to come to terms with the sheer scale of the task of extending and leveraging the country’s hard power.

Prosperity and Connectivity

This chapter examines the Modi government’s foreign economic policy, focusing especially on its reform agenda – including signature projects like ‘Make in India’ – and its relations with other South Asian states. It argues that despite Modi’s rhetoric about globalisation, inclusion and connectivity, his government’s economic agenda was conditioned more by inherited Hindu nationalist ideas than by liberal principles. These ideas, the chapter contends, tethered the Modi government to a form of economic nationalism. It explores the limited reforms pursued, and the consequences for India’s economy and its trade and investment relations with other states. Finally, it discusses the Modi government’s evolving attitude to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which threatened to draw India and other South Asian states further into Beijing’s economic orbit.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter addresses the question of why Modi’s government sought to reinvent Indian foreign policy, whether the reinvention succeeded, and what lessons might be learned from this episode for our understandings of how policy is made and implemented in India. It argues that the reinvention was intended to displace inherited understandings of India’s role in the world in favour of a Hindu nationalist alternative. It argues too that giving Indian foreign policy a stronger ideological character was intended to appeal to the Modi government’s core constituencies and to others, to convince them of its authority and capacity. Finally, it suggests that the patchy success of the project is due to both inherent weaknesses in Indian thinking and the limitations of the Modi model of governance.

World Guru India

This chapter analyses one of the most prominent aspects of Narendra Modi’s attempt to reinvent Indian foreign policy: his push to turn India into a ‘world guru’. It argues that this idea is deeply embedded in Hindu nationalist thinking and is widely supported on among the contemporary Hindu Right. The chapter traces the development of the idea that India ought to do more to build and leverage ‘soft power’ in international relations from the early 2000s onwards. It explores the Modi government’s effort to infuse India’s public diplomacy with Hindu nationalist themes, to promote yoga and supposedly Hindu ideas about the management of the environment and climate. It looks too at the unusual methods that the Modi government used to try to make India a world guru, including the use of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogues.

Introduction

This chapter explores the extraordinary and unanticipated activism displayed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after coming to power in May 2014. It observes his extensive travels, his personalisation of Indian diplomacy, and his effort to reset relations with key states, including the United States and China. It lays out the argument of the book, which is that this activism was part of a broader attempt to reinvent Indian foreign policy by supplying it with alternative, Hindu nationalist, foundations. It explores, by way of background, the foreign policymaking process in India and outlines how it changed under Modi. It describes both the argument and the organisation of the book.