“Howdy Modi!”: Diaspora Diplomacy Fans the Flames of Fascism in India

“Friends, this election is important because we have won with a massive mandate which has stunned the world…If anybody has won today it is the democracy and the people!” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck a triumphal figure in declaring victory after India’s May 2019 general election, delivering his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a massive electoral mandate. His tone contrasts with the alarm of those concerned for the health of Indian democracy. “Under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, India has descended into dangerous and deadly chaos that has consistently undermined human rights and democracy” wrote Nobel laureates Mairead Maguire, Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Karman, and Shirin Ebadi in a letter to the Gates Foundation protesting the decision to present Modi with an award for development. Actors Riz Ahmed and Jameela Jamil pulled out of the award ceremony amidst widespread outrage over the foundation honoring a man known to some as the “Butcher of Gujrat” for his role in 2002 pogroms that displaced and killed thousands of Muslims. Making sense of India’s present situation requires understanding the movement that propelled Modi and the BJP to power, as well how that movement uses the Indian diaspora to advance its goals. 

MS Golkawar, the second leader of the RSS, praised Nazi Germany’s racial policies and asserted: “If we Hindus grow stronger, Muslim friends … will have to play the part of German Jews”.

The BJP was created in 1951 as the political arm of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization with a founding mandate to “protect” and “nourish” Hindu culture in India. The founders of the RSS believed that Hindus are descendants of the ancient Aryans. In 1938, MS Golkawar, the second leader of the RSS, praised Nazi Germany’s racial policies and asserted: “If we Hindus grow stronger, Muslim friends … will have to play the part of German Jews”. 

The RSS goal of Hindu supremacy brought them into conflict with Mahatma Gandhi’s pluralistic vision of Hinduism and the secularism of independence leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru. Indeed, Gandhi was murdered in 1947 by Nathuram Godse, a former RSS member. Bitter conflict between the Hindu nationalists and those advocating for a secular and diverse India gave birth to a modern organization dedicated to bringing about its vision of a Hindu state. 

The RSS remains a potent force behind an increasingly fanatical Modi regime. They lament the “erosion of the nation’s integrity in the name of secularism” and “endless appeasement of the Muslim population”. Over five million volunteers run thousands of schools, youth groups, and women’s clubs across the country. Prime Minister Modi and most of his cabinet are RSS members, and over the past few years the organization has committed its massive grassroots movement to keeping the BJP, RSS’s political arm, in power. For example, Modi’s cabinet members, often RSS members themselves, routinely make incendiary promises to destroy mosques to build temples on land contested by Hindus and Muslims. Schools in states controlled by the BJP now teach Hindu scripture as fact, including bizarre claims that credit ancient Hindus with the discovery of stem cells. Orwellian history curriculums, written with input from RSS members, revive old and inaccurate tropes that label Muslims, who represent nearly 15% of the population, as “invaders” and “colonizers”. 

Ansari’s sickening death is another entry in a growing list of brutal murders and hate crimes perpetrated by militant Hindus. Time magazine reported that 90% of hate crimes over the past decade took place since Modi came to power five years ago.  

This rhetoric has tragic consequences for the most vulnerable. India is now the site of routine lynching and mob attacks against Muslims, Christians, low caste Hindus, and people accused of smuggling or consuming beef, since the slaughter of cattle is forbidden in Hindu practice. In June, a viral video showed Tabrez Ansari, a young Muslim man, bound and beaten to death over the course of hours while a Hindu mob forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” (Glory to Lord Ram). Ansari’s sickening death is another entry in a growing list of brutal murders and hate crimes perpetrated by militant Hindus. Time magazine reported that 90% of hate crimes over the past decade took place since Modi came to power five years ago.  

The BJP government’s increasingly despotic policies in Kashmir, a Muslim majority territory on the border of Pakistan, also reflect the rapid encroachment of fascism underway in India. Kashmir has been the site of numerous proxy wars between India and Pakistan, and due to decades of sectarian violence and separatist movements, had governed itself semi-autonomously for decades in order to maintain a fragile peace. In August, the BJP government revoked that partial autonomy and sent in thousands of soldiers to enforce what amounts to martial law. Since then, the Indian army shuttered businesses and schools, imposed a communications blackout, and arbitrarily imprisoned and tortured thousands of young Kashmiri men. 

The government’s actions in Kashmir is an obvious example of stoking the nationalist fervor essential to the BJP’s electoral strategy. In contrast, the “National Citizenship Register (NCR)” represents a more subtle yet impactful way for the BJP and RSS to manipulate India’s demography. The NCR will require people to produce documentation establishing their family’s residence in India before 1971. The millions of Indians who cannot produce such documentation will be labeled illegal immigrants. In a critique of the policy, lawyer Nizam Pasha points out that “the government is, in parallel, pursuing the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make undocumented migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – basically anyone who is not a Muslim – eligible for citizenship”. These policies could lead to mass deportations, civil unrest, and intra-ethnic violence, all of which play into the hands of a nationalist government seeking to divide the Hindu majority from their Muslim countrymen. Pasha compares the proposal to 1935 Reich Citizenship Laws passed by the Nazi government, which sought to rescind political rights from those who lacked “pure” German blood, a definition which became more strict as the Nazis grew stronger. Such comparisons may seem outlandish, but the BJP government is already jailing journalists, lawyers and political opponents. These dissenters are labeled “anti-nationalists”. Hitler’s Germany is the most infamous and horrific example of previously democratic institutions producing fascist dictators. In India, the descent towards autocracy is well underway. 

Events in India paint a terrifying picture of life for marginalized communities.  However, Modi’s popularity with the Indian diaspora remains unscathed. 50,000 Indian-Americans packed into Houston’s NRG stadium for “Howdy Modi!” an event in which President Trump and Modi walked hand in hand to the stage and affirmed their mutual admiration and commitment to fighting “radical Islam”. “Diaspora Diplomacy” is a key component of the BJP’s strategy for projecting their vision for India around the world. The RSS and its American subsidiary, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), have fought to rehabilitate Modi’s image ever since the Bush administration denied him a visa due to his complicity in anti-Muslim pogroms in 2002. The HSS donates money to anyone willing to advocate for the BJP in Congress, including Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh. 

As members of the diaspora, opposing fascism in India means combating its symptoms in our communities.

In addition to American political allies, Western media outlets like The Economist and New York Times burnished Modi’s reputation by casting him as an economic wizard. Yet, in reality, India is facing a serious economic slowdown. Its 6.1% unemployment rate is the highest it has been in 45 years and its GDP growth will reach a five year low in 2019. International investors initially attracted to Modi’s pro-business outlook are now starting to withdraw massive sums of money from the country, leading to a 15 year low private sector investment rate. While rising oil prices have hurt growth, the blame for the slowdown can be laid at least partially at the government’s feet. An outlandish currency reform removed about 85% of currency notes from circulation creating a massive shock to the economy without achieving anything positive. The government also botched the roll out of a new taxation system for goods and services, and their failure hurt small business nationwide. Modi supporters have used the false narrative of economic growth and development to justify and obscure the rise of fascism in India. The BJP’s economic mismanagement means that weak justification no longer exists. 

As members of the diaspora, opposing fascism in India means combating its symptoms in our communities. Now more than ever, it is important to push back on relatives and friends who parrot BJP talking points about “Islamization” or right-wing versions of history which erase centuries of diversity on the subcontinent. Challenge those who donate to or participate in organizations like the RSS or HSS in the name of philanthropy or community. The diaspora should demand that American politicians not provide cover for Hindu fascists. Call on politicians to condemn the systematic abuse of Kashmiris and the imprisonment of dissidents throughout India. Challenge Congresswoman Gabbard to explain her strong support for Modi despite her stated commitments to progressive values. Such statements should not be difficult to make for those who believe in democracy and human rights. We can also inform ourselves on the history of places like Kashmir and on the current political situation in India. Finally, we can support independent journalists and NGOs that strive to hold the Modi government accountable. 

The BJP and RSS ask for unconditional support from the diaspora to demonstrate patriotism, but we must remember that living outside of India does not preclude criticism of the Indian government. Prime Minister Modi and the BJP government rose to power in close collaboration with a group of Hindu nationalists inspired by European fascism. The government has since implemented autocratic and discriminatory policies that young Indians in the diaspora would rightfully oppose if they were rolled out by President Trump. It will seem challenging, but even the simplest conversations with families and friends can begin to harness the very real influence of the diaspora to resist the rise of Hindu fascism. With the stakes so high, apathy is complicity.