Modi and the Politics of Yoga
Narendra Modi’s new policies as India’s prime minister revolve around economics, social change, and…yoga?
Modi has been trying to reclaim yoga as an Indian art form and have it officially recognized as being rooted in Hindu tradition. While it is generally accepted that yoga originated in India, this movement, according to the new Minister of Yoga and Traditional Medicine Shripad Yesso Naik, is to “establish to the world that it’s ours.” One of the first steps in his strategy is to secure what is known as geographical indication, which is a formal acknowledgement of a location’s importance to a product. Geographical indication is what keeps champagne, for example, trademarked to only a certain region in France. Since the individual country itself declares these formal acknowledgements, however, they are not particularly effective, which is why products called champagne are still produced outside France. As one can imagine, even trying to establish the geographical connection to something intangible is a challenge, not to mention the logistical problems one would encounter when enforcing such restrictions.
The concept of solidifying India’s claims over certain cultural practices isn’t entirely new, especially as the past couple decades have seen many attempts from Western health practitioners to patent theories evolved from Indian traditions. Bikram Choudhury, the Los Angeles-based founder of hot yoga, has tried to copyright his yoga methodology, and the University of Mississippi patented the healing properties of turmeric, an herb native to southeast India. These sorts of legal actions have spurred the Indian government to more concretely protect yoga and other practices, so for the past decade the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library has been documenting, among other things, thousands of different yoga poses in an effort to protect against future misappropriation.
The idea of the repossession of yoga is something that Modi’s administration is taking very seriously. When Modi spoke at the United Nations General Assembly for the first time in September, he advocated for an International Yoga Day (despite the fact that there already was a World Yoga Day), in addition to speaking about global peace and climate change. Modi’s attempt was successful, and June 21st now marks the International Day of Yoga. Domestically, Modi has been implementing policies to bring yoga into police academies, hospitals, and over 600,000 schools, in addition to spearheading efforts to bring more foreign investors into the wellness industry as part of his “Make in India” campaign.
So why is Modi making yoga one of his primary platforms as prime minister? Yoga is the center of a $10 billion industry, but even with increased restrictions it is unlikely that there will be much economic benefits for India directly related to yoga’s repatriation. Some people describe Modi’s efforts as examples of his “soft power” approach to diplomacy, in which Modi is emphasizing India’s role on the world stage from a more cultural standpoint. India does not have the same global cachet within foreign affairs as other countries, and so Modi has been utilizing India’s soft power potential to make up for a relatively small arsenal diplomatic firepower. For example, the Indian Foreign Service – its corps of diplomats, similar to the US Foreign Service – is only 900 people, on par with that of Singapore, whereas China has a foreign service comprised of around 5,000 and the United States has over 6,500. Yoga offers the opportunity for Modi to revitalize India as a vishwa guru, or guru of the world. Modi believes that “We have to emerge as vishwa guru, not only to give new direction to the world, but also to protect our own heritage.” Through the reclamation of yoga, Modi is attempting to rebrand India’s international image by emphasizing the bond between its ancient and contemporary cultures. Modi’s push for recognition is less about actually repatriating yoga, and instead represents an effort to bring more international attention to the culture and intellect that has come out of India both in the past and in the present. Though it is too soon gauge the effectiveness of these policies, Modi’s creative use of India’s cultural heritage should be applauded for the unprecedented way in which it fortifies a relationship between soft power potential and foreign policy.