Bhakt nation: The return of the Hindu diaspora in Modi’s India

ABSTRACT

This article investigates Modi’s rise to power as strongman leader of the world’s largest secular democracy. Deploying ‘bhakti’ or devotion as an analytical category, it brings an unusual perspective to contemporary Indian politics that looks at it from outside the electoral practices and institutions of the nation-state. Fundamental to understanding Modi’s political authority is Swaminarayan Sanstha, a powerful Hindu ascetic order tracing its origins tonineteenth century Gujarat. Following its nearly two century long transnational trajectory through the diasporic and religious networks of the Gujaratis, I illustrate how the Swaminarayans emerged as a social platform for Modi’s political aspirations and mobiled the Hindu diaspora in a host of capacities to serve as his informal diplomat corps. By transferring their networks and assets to Modi’s political project, the Swaminarayans, I argue, are reconfiguring the Indian state and its constitutional vision for society into a sacral Hindu state for a ‘bhakt nation’

KEYWORDS:

• Strongman
• sovereignty
• divine kinship
• Hinduism
• diaspora
• informal diplomacy

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Engseng Ho, Hyeju Jeong, the co-organizers and the participants of the Strongmen and Networks conference held at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore on December 11–12, 2018, for their observations on earlier drafts of the article. Thanks also to Naoko Shimazu, Deepak Nair, Elaine Ho and other participants at the Rethinking Asian Diplomacy workshop held at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore on August 1, 2019, for their feedback on elements of the strongman-informal diplomat partnership. I have benefitted immensely from valuable comments and suggestions of the anonymous reviewers and the Editor of History and Anthropology. The conference and research on which this article is based would not have been possible without funding and support from the Muhammad Alagil Chair in Arabia-Asia Studies and the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Bharatvarsha according to Savarkar is the father-land as well as the holy-land of the Hindu civilization. Its territory covers the Indus and all the land south of the Himalayas to the seas. This region is also referred to as Akhand Bharat or Greater India and encompasses Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and parts of Burma.

2 That the Messiah’s time had come, was proclaimed by bhakts who plead with their listeners to join hands with Modi to usher in the New India, as in this musical video uploaded to YouTube (Shrivastav, January 8, 2018).

3 See TVNXT Hotshot, ‘Shankar Mahadevan Breathless Non-stop India Video Song’, November 21, 2018.

4 The relationship between the Swaminarayans and the RSS became controversial recently when the authorities of a Surat based temple dressed up the Swaminarayan idol in the RSS uniform which includes a white shirt, khaki shorts, black cap and black shoes (Hindustan Times June 8, 2016).

5 The RSS had overseas branches in Kenya and Myanmar since at least the 1940s, but it was not until the Emergency that such intermeshing was possible or attempted to.