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ABSTRACT
Narendra Modi’s national leadership since 2014 is a significant marker of revitalisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Indian politics. This article traces Modi’s association with the idea and rhetoric of development. He presented himself as vikaspurush (development man) and as a leader who would provide strong governance for India when he campaigned in the 2014 general elections. The Gujarat Model was showcased by him as the blueprint for development for the whole of India. However, a closer analysis of the developmental paradigm demonstrates that he has changed secular meanings and connotations of state-initiated development by associating state action with the rituals of pilgrimage used in the yatra (procession) politics of the Hindu nationalist movement. The article highlights the significance of the blurring of the lines between the administrative-bureaucratic process of planning and religio-spatial symbolism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 An aarti is performed every evening on the banks of river Ganga.
2 On 16th May 2014, as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance, the BJP comfortably won 282 Lok Sabha (LS) seats without depending on any allies, a gain of 166 seats. Since Rajiv Gandhi’s victory, with 414 LS seats in 1984, this was the largest win by a single political party in a general election. It was also the first time that a party other than Congress had won a simple majority on its own; the Janata Party gained power in 1977 as part of a coalition.
3 The Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological and cultural mentor of its political wing, the BJP. A Pracharak is a member and propagator of the organisation responsible for disseminating its ideology. There are norms that guide relations between the RSS and the party; members of the organisation are not supposed to interfere with the party organisation unless required and appointed to do so. Modi was a regional organiser for the RSS from 1978 to 1985, and was overseeing areas of Surat and Vadodara, when he was officially moved and inducted into the BJP.
4 Fernandes interpreted the campaign as ‘an important instance of the ways in which the everyday practices, representations and the discourses of the new middle class can shape the more traditional realm of democratic and electoral politics although with unpredictable consequences‘ (Fernandes, Citation2006, p. 192).
5 Since 1995 BJP has been wining state assembly elections in Gujarat, and Modi’s term started in 2001.
6 For examples, see Deshpande (Citation1993; Citation1998) and Menon (Citation2022). Menon in his book traces the role of Bharat Sadhu Samaj (Indian Society of Ascetics) as one of groups engaged by the Nehru government in the dissemination of the five-year plan.
7 Brosius (Citation2005) analyses Hindutva symbolism leading up to the Ram temple campaign in terms of darshan visual practices.
8 Field notes: Modi’s speech, Vikas rally, 29 September 2013, Rohini, New Delhi.
9 Field notes: Modi’s speech in the public meeting, 26 April 2014, Pavi Jetpur, Gujarat.
10 The issue relates to the withdrawal of the land allotted to Tata Motors (for the Nano Car Plant in Singur) by the CPI (M) government in 2006 by the Supreme Court on the charges of illegal acquisition.
11 A term coined by Geertz (Citation1980) to describe the nature of the state in Balinese Negara that relied on spectacular performances and rituals.
12 What is being referenced here is the Hindu sacred practice of worship which involves ‘doing abhisheka (sacred bath) by offering water, milk and panchamrutt (A liquid mixture of five ingredients)‘ (Smith, pg. 68). A concoction of five items, milk, ghee, curd, honey and jaggery offered as food for a god.
13 On Nehruvian planning see: Deshpande (Citation1993, Citation1998), Jayal (Citation1999), Roy (Citation2007) and Menon (Citation2022) For Gujarat’s developmental state see: Sinha (Citation2005), Sud (Citation2012) and Chatterjee (Citation2022).
14 Deshpande (Citation1998) argues that the Nehruvian developmental model employed a spatial strategy that capitalised on the economic resources that regional sites in post-independent India had, in contrast, Hindutva’s communal strategy capitalised on a sacred geography (p. 259).
15 Nehru’s preference for a scientific approach is discussed by Deshpande (Citation1993; Citation1998), Jayal (Citation1999), Roy (Citation2007), and Vittorini (Citation2014).
16 Sinha (Citation2005, p. 92) incisively points out that since the 1960s, Gujarat’s political elites developed a system to by-pass the centralised modalities of the licence raj system by evolving the model of ‘bureaucratic-liberalism’. Thus Gujarat gained from informal information gathering and lobbying for licenses to be allocated by the Centre to the state.
17 A Karmayogi can be defined as an individual who performs their duty selflessly, keeping the objective of greater good in mind.
18 Instructively, Dr. Sahasrabuddhe (Citation2014), also makes a similar observation in his blog, ‘[m]ost of the training programmes are residential, giving opportunity to the employees to better understand each other and facilitate an evolving commonality of approach. Participants collectively sing inspirational songs; play games, practice yoga and more importantly share ideas and discuss issues in a thoroughly interactive training format.’
19 According to Bobbio, the Maha Gujarat movement could be considered the initial steps towards consolidating a subnational Gujarati identity capitalising on the historical and cultural idioms of Gujarat. He elaborates ‘the ‘natural orientation to business’ of the Gujarati population referred to the traditional milieu of high-caste Hindu and Jain traders of urban Gujarat, thus conferring on the subnational idea a defined Hindu tint’ (Bobbio, Citation2012, p. 659)
20 Interview with NK, 8th June 2014, Vadodara, Gujarat.
21 Sud (Citation2012) also highlights that the marketing of such events is premised on the Hindu mercantile traditions of religious blessings for wealth creation. Uttarayan, a Sanskrit term, is considered an auspicious period in the Hindu calendar for good health and wealth creation.
22 Garba is a folk dance form from Gujarat, lexically linked to a Sanskrit word meaning womb and signifies life.
23 Sheth (Citation2007), observes that management of this ‘guilt’ translates into adherence to kathakars (interpreters of religious scriptures) and temples. ‘It seeks its catharsis by sponsoring religious functions, religious recitals by revered saints and sadhus and patronizing the institutions and spiritual/religious movements.’ (p. 20)
24 Field note: 3rd June 2014, Vadodara, Gujarat.
25 Field note: 3rd June 2014, Vadodara, Gujarat.
26 Field note: 3rd June 2014, Chota Udepur, Gujarat. Modi started the practice of organising the annual mahotsav in 2005.
27 Field note: 20th June 2014, Behrampura, Ahmadabad.
28 Interview with SK, 20th June 2014, Behrampura, Ahmadabad.
29 Field note: 20th June 2014, Behrampura, Ahmadabad.
30 The Sardar Sarovar Dam project on the Narmada River was claimed to be beneficial for Gujaratis on the grounds that it would provide water for drinking and irrigation purposes. However, there were issues of tribal displacement, environmental violations and funding as raised by the NBA (Narmada Bachaco Andolan) (Movement to save Narmada) led by social activist Medha Patkar.
31 Field note: 3rd May 2014, Varanasi, UP.
32 Interview with MS, 6th May 2014, BJP office, Varanasi, UP.
33 Alley explains that to ‘Hindu devotees, Ganga is a goddess who absolves worldly impurities and rejuvenates the cosmos with purificatory power’ (Citation2010, p. 35).
Acknowledgment
I am grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful suggestions. I wish to also thank Andrew Wyatt for providing valuable guidance towards its final version. The usual disclaimers apply.