The Indian Diaspora in Africa: The Commodification of Hindu Rashtra

Abstract

A new approach to India’s diaspora has taken place within the wider context of the adoption, in 1991, of a neoliberal economic policy framework. In recent years, Indian private business enterprises have led the way in Africa and this has had an important impact on the state’s conceptualization of the diaspora. New Delhi’s elites actively seek to embrace an objectified ‘globalization’ as a means to benefit powerful externally oriented fractions and the diaspora’s value is measured in its contribution to this project. There has been a determined attempt to commodify the diaspora to serve particular Indian economic interests. However, the current government’s Hindu chauvinism makes the very question of what constitutes a genuine Indian rather narrow. Two factors thus dominate current policy: commodification and categorization. The diaspora in South Africa is discussed as an example where these dynamics can be acutely observed.

Keywords:

• India
• diaspora
• neoliberalism
• South Africa
• BJP
• Africa

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 So as to avoid repetitive and intrusive scare quotation marks, the term ‘Indians’ will henceforth be left unmarked. This in no way implies ignoring the fact that many of the Indian diaspora’s roots originate from either what were then princely states or what are now Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc.

2 The Chennai Declaration emanated from a meeting by the BJP’s National Executive Committee in 1999, whereby amendments to the party’s constitution were adopted. The Declaration inter alia claimed that the BJP had given up its Hindutva agenda and sought support from all quarters to ‘make the 21st Century India’s century’.

3 A hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry, originating from Durban.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Renu Modi

Dr Renu Modi is a senior lecturer and former Director of the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai. Her research interests include international relations (with a special focus on India-Africa relations, urban development and human rights. Her recent books are Beyond relocation: The imperative of sustainable resettlement (Sage, 2009), South-South cooperation: Africa on the centre stage (Palgrave, 2011) and Agricultural development and food security in Africa, with Charu, Fantu (Zed Books, 2013).

Ian Taylor

Ian Taylor is Professor in International Relations and African Political Economy at St Andrews and also Chair Professor in the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China. He is also Professor Extraordinary in Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is interested in sub-Saharan Africa’s political economy and its international relations, the history of Afro-Asian diplomacy, the notion of ‘rising powers’, and the implications for global governance and development (and for Africa specifically). His most recent books are Global governance and transnationalising capitalist hegemony: The myth of the ‘emerging powers’ (2016) and Africa rising? BRICS—Diversifying dependency (2014).