India under the stewardship of our Prime Minister is gaining accolades from global authorities of all hues – ranging from world leaders seeking commercial collaboration on the one hand, to international entertainment houses promoting Indian female dress fashions on the other. In fact, Narendra Modi has made himself into a brand – like a commodity that is given maximum exposure in advertisements to highlight its USP (Unique Selling Point).
Under his guidance over the years, a meticulously fashioned strategy of public relations and staging of events both at home and abroad, has been framed by communication professionals to promote his image . As a result, Narendra Modi today appears to be the cynosure of all across the world – if one goes by the reports sent by Indian correspondents covering Modi’s recent whirlwind tour. Newspapers splashed pictures of the head of one state bending to touch Modi’s feet. There were reports of the US President Biden patting him and telling him that he (Biden) had been so overwhelmed by requests from his constituency in America to listen to Modi’s upcoming speech when he visits the US in June that he has no invitation cards left ! Yet another Prime Minister – from Australia – described him as the `Boss’ !
At around the same time, actresses from Modi’s India were being wooed by the luxury business world. During recent times, they have been gaining attention through an aggressive style of promoting Indian films at international film festivals by our government. As a result, they are now sought after by fashion manufacturing houses to promote their brands. Deepika Padukone parades as the global ambassador of French luxury brands Cartier and Louis Vuitton, Alia Bhatt captures headlines as Gucci’s latest representative, Priyanka Chopra dazzles the world as the sales promoter of BVLGARI’s jewellery at Venice, and Ananya Panday represents Dior’s latest handbag designed to suit Indian consumers. India is set to be the world’s third largest fashion market, with a wide- spread spectrum of nouveau rich consumers who are seeking expensive luxury items from these global agencies so that they can display them as marks of their status.
Thus, the honeyed, syrupy rhetoric indulged in by Narendra Modi and his foreign minister Jaishankar at one or other international forum to woo foreign investors , and the simultaneous ramp walk and photo shoots of Indian actresses at global advertisement campaigns by luxury brands – are two sides of the same strategy . It is a strategy known as `soft power.’
Modi brand of `soft power’ – foreign and domestic.
The term `soft power’ was coined and popularized by the sociologist Joseph Nye in the late 1980s. It implied that a nation could exercise power through economic and cultural influences rather than coercion or military strength.
Narendra Modi has been following this strategy of `soft power’ in his foreign policy – as evident from his speeches where he cajoles world powers by offering economic opportunities, and at the same time reassuring them of a peaceful environment by recalling the religio-cultural tradition of India (talking of Buddha) and uttering the slogan `Basudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the entire world is our family).
In the domestic sphere, Modi has successfully used his `soft power’ in mesmerizing vast sections of the people. He has won over the Hindu majority by instilling in them a sense of national pride through the ostentatious display of traditional Hindu religious rituals , claiming them to be the sole symbols of Indian nationalism. The latest example was the inauguration of the new Parliament building which was marked by the installation of a scepter called `Sengol’ – an antiquated symbol of royal power that was in use in ancient Hindu kingdoms in south India.
Through his contacts in the Hindu mutts in the south, Modi discovered that a replica of this scepter was presented to Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of Independence by the ancestors of these mutt priests. Those priests welcomed Nehru as their new ruler, and gifted him the `Sengol’, reassuring him that this scepter would protect him during his reign. Nehru in his usual dismissive attitude towards superstitious religious beliefs and symbols , dumped away this particular item along with many other gifts that he had received during the ceremony, to a museum set up in his ancestral birthplace in Allahabad (now renamed Prayagraj).
Modi resuscitated this limp stick from that museum and installed it in an erectile position behind the chair of the Lok Sabha Speaker. The occasion was marked by prayers conducted by a host of half-naked male sadhus with bulging tummies – a demonstration which would have otherwise been considered obscene, but now sanctioned because they happened to be Hindu priests with their lower parts clad in the sacrosanct saffron attire. Their performance was displayed through the media, and watched by the TV audience which gleefully hailed it as the revival of the Hindu roots of Indian nationalism made possible under Narendra Modi’s leadership. It is such state-sponsored religio-cultural displays which appeal to popular sentiments, and win over large sections of the Indian people, and also reinforce Narendra Modi’s image as the saviour and protector of India’s heritage. Thus, Modi’s `soft power` strategy in the domestic sphere has worked out well in his favour.
At the same time, he is extending the `soft power’ to the Muslim community by wooing the `Pasmanda’ sections which comprise the poor laboring classes who are discriminated against by the Muslim elite. He is promising them economic opportunities if they join his political game, and vote for him in 2024 .
The other side of the picture – `Muscle Power’
Parallel to this overwhelming flood of `soft power’ propaganda under which we are submerged, there is another equally overwhelming downpour of `muscle power’ that the Modi government has been demonstrating in the domestic sphere. Incapable of using his muscle power to oust the Chinese aggressors from our soil, Modi is diverting that muscle power to arm the recruits of the Hindu Sangh Parivar to which he belongs. These young recruits, indoctrinated in the ideology of Hindutva, are being encouraged to satisfy their macho instincts and demonstrate their power in public, by indulging in acts like lynching of Muslims and Dalits, destruction of their homes, and vandalizing of Christian churches. They operate under various names in different states (Bajrang Dal, Hindu Sena….). They are in fact acting as mercenaries in Modi’s strategy to threaten and force the minorities into subjugation to his rule.
At the administrative level, Modi’s muscle power is demonstrated by his police force which beats up women wrestlers who demand the arrest of his protégé , a BJP MP accused of sexual harassment. He further uses the draconian laws to suppress his political opponents. A host of such laws like the National Security Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Public Safety Act, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, are being used to arrest social activists, journalists, lawyers and academics among others, and dragging them in cases that go on for years – thanks to our slow moving judiciary. The most notorious example of such denial of justice is the Bhima Koregaon case, on which the judges have been sitting for the last several years and prevaricating on deciding the fate of some of the most eminent academics, lawyers and human rights activists, who are languishing in jail.
In this connection, we must admit that Narendra Modi has been lucky enough to receive blessings from a section of the judiciary. Even the Supreme Court gave sanction to the building of a Ram temple on the ruins of a mosque that was destroyed by members of his Sangh Parivar – an act that was demonstrated in public view. At the lower level of the judiciary, in the high courts in the states, we hear reports of judges quoting Manusmriti, recalling Hindu mythological legends to justify their verdicts.
With such allies in the judiciary, and the academic institutions which he has filled with heads and members aligned with the RSS ideology (who are `saffronizing’ the syllabus for school students), Modi hopes to win over the urban middle class.
Thus, Narendra Modi has crafted a strategy that combines extra-judicial displays of muscle-power by his followers in the Sangh Parivar (e.g. lynching and destruction of homes and places of worship of the religious minorities) at the ground level, with administrative measures sanctioned by the judiciary at the upper level that allow him to use executive agencies like the CBI and ED to persecute his political rivals. It is a stick and carrot policy. His threat of a CBI or ED raid is dangled as a stick before his rivals, along with the carrot that offers them immunity if they join his party. Many are falling for the carrot – as evident from the rush at the doors of the BJP offices in many states by Opposition party politicians seeking entry into the party.
Limitations of Modi’s strategy of `Soft Power’ abroad and `Muscle Power’ at home
But however much Narendra Modi may try to woo the US and other global powers in his foreign policy endeavours, the abominable record of his regime in his domestic sphere has drawn condemnation from reputable international organizations which index the level of success and failure of states in the spheres of health care, human rights, freedom of the press, treatment of religious minorities, and other similar areas of humanitarian concerns. The UN Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization and the World Bank have jointly come out with a report entitled `Child Malnutrition Levels,’ this year in 2023, which reveals that every fourth stunted child in the world is to be found in India – indicating the extent of malnutrition.
Added to this alarming statistics of poverty and hunger, is the data relating to threats to press freedom. In the annual Press Freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders, India fell to the rank of 150 in 2022. Even Modi’s hugging friend, the US President Biden disappointed him by releasing in 2020 the US Department of State’s `Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,’ which highlighted cases of the Modi government’s harassment of media outlets which were critical of him, and the use of draconian laws against journalists. His Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in 2022, released the International Religious Freedom Report, which branded India as one of the worst violators of religious freedom by citing cases of killing of Muslim and Christian minorities and destruction of their homes and places of worship.
Lest these reports be dismissed and denounced by the Modi government as `foreign inspired conspiracies,’ (the term usually used by the spokespersons of the External Affairs Ministry) we should reiterate that long before these reports by global agencies came out, Indian domestic press organizations like the Editors Guild, Press Club of India, National Alliance of Journalists and journalists’ trade unions had been protesting all these years against the Modi government’s persecution of journalists. Similarly, domestic human rights bodies like the PUCL (Peoples Union for Civil Liberties), PUDR (Peoples Union for Democratic Rights) and other groups of social activists have also over the last several years, been condemning the persecution of religious minorities by Hindu fanatical groups which enjoy the patronage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party BJP. The investigative reports by Indian organizations into these cases of atrocities by his followers are available on the web sites. It is these domestic reports that are being confirmed now by the international agencies, which independently carried out investigation into allegations of human rights violation in India.
It is yet to be seen what results emanate from Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to the US – which is being hailed by the Indian mainstream media (known as `GodiModi’) as a once in a life time historical event. Biden recently paid a left-handed jocular compliment to Modi, saying that White House is overwhelmed by demands for invitation cards for attending Modi’s meeting ! The joke seems to have gone over the head of our Prime Minister and his advisers who are taking it at its face value. Let us see what happens in Washington. Modi may be greeted by a vast audience from the Indian diaspora. But coming down to brass tacks – will Biden prioritize his commercial and military deals with Modi, and ignore the issue of human rights violation by Modi in his domestic sphere, that is being raised and objected to by Biden’s own administration ? How will the two wily state heads reconcile the contradictory positions ?
Sumanta Banerjee is a political commentator and writer, is the author of In The Wake of Naxalbari’ (1980 and 2008); The Parlour and the Streets: Elite and Popular Culture in Nineteenth Century Calcutta (1989) and ‘Memoirs of Roads: Calcutta from Colonial Urbanization to Global Modernization.’ (2016).
