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International / Opinion

MAGAZINE | OCT 20, 2014

Madison About Modi A square erupted with NRI joy

OPINION

The Prophet Of Boom Times

The NRI sees himself as the true inheritor of the Vedic legacy and best representative of the worlds most advanced material culture
VINAY LAL

During his recently concluded visit to the United States, where he addressed a jubilant crowd of around 19,000 people, Indian PM Narendra Modi all but dedicated his
government to the non-resident Indians gathered to celebrate his triumph. You have given me a lot of love, he told his admirers. This kind of love has never been given to
any Indian leader, ever. Im very grateful to you. And Ill repay that loan by forming the India of your dreams.
This was music to the ears of his devoted listeners, whose achievements Modi has promised to teach his countrymen and women to emulate: I want to duplicate your
success. What do we do to duplicate that success?
The members of the Indian Civil Service who governed India after it became a Crown Colony were described as, and believed themselves to be, heaven-born. Many Indian-Americans similarly believe themselves to be not merely fortunate and hard-working but also as the vanguard of what may be described as a post-industrial Vedic
civilisation.
To understand what it is that enables Indian-Americans, and mainly the Hindus among them, to think of themselves both as immensely spiritually gifted, the true inheritors of
a Vedic civilisation, and as the ideal representatives of the worlds most advanced material culture, certain aspects of the history of Indian-Americans must be revisited.
Though they are today the most educated and affluent of any ethnic group in the United States, they have long bemoaned their fate as an "invisible minority". Five decades
ago, Punjabi-American farmer Dilip Singh Saund served three terms (1957-63) in the House of Representatives. Until very recently, however, Indian-Americans have
scarcely made any other dent in politics. But it is other forms of invisibility that touch a raw nerve. As the savvy and yet aggressive young professionals who form part of
the comparatively new Hindu-American Foundation often point out, Hinduism is barely understood in the US and is, from their standpoint, unjustly maligned as a bizarre
religion of false gods, demi-gods, demons and such strange figures as Hanuman and Kali.

NRIs and Modi alike

crave to see a new,
resplendent India
that can take its
place as a great
power but India in

Hindus everywhere are inclined to believe their religion, characterised by the notion of Vasudhaiva kutumbukam (the world is one family),
uniquely fosters tolerance, but Hindus in the US see themselves as especially blessed and charged with the dual mission of rejuvenating India
and helping America fulfil its destiny as the mecca of multicultural democracy. The formal dedication of many Hindu temples in the US, such
as the Rama shrine of the Hindu temple of Greater Chicago, has taken place on July 4, which marks the anniversary of American
independence. Hindus thus signify their acceptance of the idea that they share in the blessings of American freedom, while at the same time
conveying to Americans that Hinduism permits a richer and more spiritual conception of freedom centred on the notion of self-realisation. The
secular American formula, E Pluribus UnumFrom many, oneis countered by, and complemented with, the Vedic affirmation of the idea
Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti (Rg Veda 1.164.46)Truth is one; it has many names.

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its present state is

an embarrassment
to them. Hence the
focus on a Swachh
Bharat.

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Indian-American Hindus are exceedingly astute in their understanding of how they can deploy mulitculturalism discourses in the US to their
advantage. Several years ago, a number of Hindu organisations rallied together concertedly to force alterations in the history textbooks used
in California schools. They objected, for example, to the fact that such textbooks characterised Hinduism as a polytheistic rather than a
monotheistic faith, or that women in ancient India were described as having fewer rights than men. American Hindus Against Defamation
(AHAD) almost serves as a vigilante group, on a hawk-like lookout for those who might offend Hindu sentiments. However, their support of
multiculturalism in India, where the religious, linguistic and cultural diversity dwarfs anything seen in the US, is remarkably muted.

Apparently, in their worldview, multiculturalism is much to be admired in the US even as it may safely be ignored in India. Indeed, many
Hindus in the US adhere to the view that the practice of their faith is not hobbled by the constraints that a pseudo-secular Indian state has imposed upon Hindus in their
homeland.
There is a remarkable convergence in the worldview of the NRIand the model of the successful NRI is the Indian-Americanand Narendra Modi. The political
ascendancy of a former tea vendor reminds Indian-Americans of the opportunities made available to them in the supposed land of milk and honey, though such a narrative
obscures the fact that many of the immigrant Indians who have done exceedingly well in the US already came from advantaged backgrounds. NRIs and Modi alike crave to
see a new, resplendent India that can take its place as a great power, but India in its present state is an embarrassment to them. Its faultsthe appalling poverty, the
ramshackle appearance of every town, the indescribable filth in public spaces, widespread evidence of malnutrition and open defecation, and much elseneed not be
rehearsed at length, and Modi has signalled his attempt to meet such objections by launching the Swachh Bharat Mission. But there are more compelling parts of the story
and the anxiety of influence extends much further. The Indian middle classes and the NRIs have long agonised over the fact that India, as a friend once remarked to me, is
the largest most unimportant country in the world, and that the same Indians who flounder in their homeland make something significant of themselves outside India.
It is under these circumstances that Modi has appeared, to the Indian middle classes and to NRIs, as the appointed one. The well-to-do physicians, software engineers,
scientists, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and other professionals in the Indian-American community have long hankered for an Indian leader who would be imposing and
decisive, and they are convinced that India requires a strong dose of authoritarian leadership if it is to prosper. They are much more hospitable to the idea of a prosperous
authoritarian state than to the idea of an India flaunted as a democracy but registers poor growth and continues to be an insignificant player in world politics.
Modis concentration of power is calculated to furnish, from their standpoint, some of the advantages found in the presidential system of government. Yet Modi also stands
for what they view as spiritual India, a land synonymous with great yogis, teachers of spiritual renown and sacred rivers personified as goddesses. Thus, in the figure of
Modi, Indian-Americans see the possibilities of a prosperous yet spiritual India which they believe is already embodied in their own life histories.
(Vinay Lal is an associate professor of history at UCLA.)
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