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Editor’s Introduction
T
he third issue of the journal is composed of three articles and a review essay.
Two of the articles deal with aspects of Indian domestic politics, while the
third is focused on India’s bilateral relations with one of its most important
neighbors, Bangladesh. The review essay is based on Srinath Raghavan’s book, The
Most Dangerous Place, a panoramic account of US–India relations.
Nitasha Kaul’s article, “The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Na-
tionalism” focuses on the success of right-wing electoral politics with the seem-
ingly odd yoking of neoliberalism and nationalism. She argues that the two social
forces, though apparently at odds, have actually worked in tandem. Using the In-
dian case especially under the Narendra Modi regime, she demonstrates how they
have worked in concert despite their seeming opposition.
Hugo Gorringe and Suryakant Waghmore, in their article, “‘Go Write on
the Walls That You are the Rulers of the Nation’: Dalit Mobilization and the BJP,”
argue that while the 2014 electoral success of the BJP was seen as a triumph of
developmental questions over identity issues, in actuality the BJP’s moderation
has proved to be limited. Not surprisingly, they contend, the last two years have
witnessed an increase in Dalit mobilization against the BJP.
Ali Riaz’ article “The Indo-Bangladesh Relationship: ‘Saath Saath (Togeth-
er) or Too Close for Comfort?’” discusses the India–Bangladesh relationship in
recent years. He believes that over the past decade relations between the two states
have been quite cordial and especially between the ruling parties. He also shows
that during this period a number of contentious issues have been resolved, but
others nevertheless remain. The article then discusses the prospects of the evo-
lution of the relationship given the resolution of a range of issues while still con-
fronting others that still remain problematic.
Aparna Pande’s review essay, based on Srinath Raghavan’s book, Fierce
Enigmas (published in India as The Most Dangerous Place), shows how US–India
relations have evolved since the eighteenth century to the present day. While the
US and India currently enjoy a multifaceted and burgeoning relationship, it was
not always so. Pande, based on Raghavan’s findings, shows that US engagement
with India was all too often held hostage to other actors and events. It frequently
fell victim to the American quest for quick results. Despite a long history of peo-
ple-to-people contacts, mutual ideas of exceptionalism led the two states to view
each other with suspicion. Today, the relationship owes much to a common con-
cern about the rise of the People’s Republic of China . However, as Pande notes, the
relationship still remains susceptible to American policy fluctuations as President’s
Trump’s actions on a range of bilateral and regional issues have demonstrated.
1 doi: 10.18278/inpp.2.1.1
Indian Politics & Policy
With this issue, we say goodbye to our Assistant Editor, Brandon Miliate,
who upon the successful defense of his dissertation, will become the South and
Southeast Asian Studies Librarian at Yale University Libraries. We wish him the
best for a successful career. In the next issue, we will welcome Aashna Khanna,
a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University,
Bloomington, as his successor.
2
Indian Politics & Policy • Vol. 2, No. 1 • Spring 2019
Abstract
3 doi: 10.18278/inpp.2.1.2
Indian Politics & Policy
4
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
具备后殖民性质和新自由主义性
质的民族主义政治计划
摘要
本文出发点认可了一种正在全球扩散的右翼选举成功,这种
成功依赖于看似相互抵触的新自由主义和民族主义二者的相
互交织。这些全球变化中重要的一面则是,变化不仅仅反映
了右翼在任何特定背景下所获的成功。它还要求我们解开并
理解当代后殖民世界中政治和经济方面的变化。笔者聚焦于
发现民族主义、新自由主义和后殖民主义三者间相互交织的
相关性,这种相关性潜伏于一种权力配置,后者是一种治理
术,笔者称之为“具备后殖民性质和新自由主义性质的民族
主义”(PNN)。理解PNN则需要对此前关于单独分析新自
由主义或民族主义一事发起挑战;新自由主义和民族主义不
仅不冲突,反而作为重塑假想的计划,共同组成了“市场/经
济”和“国家/文化”的概念。此外,PNN将“西方”模棱两
可的状态变得清晰,因为其充满了殖民历史影响——现称之
为复仇主义自豪,同时结合了冲突的/实际的消费欲望来模仿
资本主义帝国都市幻想。作者以印度为例,阐述了由莫迪领
导的印度人民党政府如何通过重塑“抵制外货”政策和“印
度制造”计划,进而将PNN作为一种治理术。
关键词:民族主义,新自由主义,印度,后殖民,莫迪,抵
制外货(Swadeshi),治理术,印度教民族主义,经济,文化
—Stuart Hall1
T
dictory aspects of neoliberalism and
he starting point of this article nationalism. A significant number of
is the recognition of globally elected right-wing leaders across the
proliferating right-wing elector- contemporary world are simultaneous-
al successes of a specific kind that rely ly championing both nationalism and
5
Indian Politics & Policy
neoliberalism, but at the same time, world marked by the power asymme-
their rise is commonly seen in terms of tries of the colonial encounter), where
a nationalist response to neoliberalism, the colonial legacies may be re-called
one that is predicated upon an opposi- into the present as imperial nostalgia
tional understanding of the dynamics of by the former colonizers, or as revan-
nationalism and neoliberalism. Further, chist pride by the formerly colonized,
they do this by motivating projects that but they continue to be salient nonethe-
combine appeals to nostalgia, futurity, less. Postcoloniality, thus, makes it in-
and pride, in ways that entangle con- cumbent upon us to take into account
cepts of nation and economy, and this is the role and status of the “West” in
the case in countries that were former- the way in which it continues to act as
ly colonized, as well as those that were both an attractor and a repulser in the
colonizers. This article is an attempt to socio-economic architecture of global
unpack this conundrum, using the ex- politics.3
ample of India. Keeping this in mind, and pro-
An important dimension of these ceeding further, this paper is motivat-
globally occurring changes is that they ed by how, in the contemporary glob-
reflect something more than simply al moment marked by a simultaneous
the empirical instantiation of a right- ascendancy of neoliberalism and na-
wing success in any one specific con- tionalism, the categories “economic”
text. In fact, they require us to unrav- and “political” are often assumed to
el and understand the transmutations function separately and with their own
in the nature of what is understood as endogenous logics. Analyzing the dy-
the “political” and the “economic” in namics of nationalism and neoliberal-
the contemporary postcolonial world. ism in isolation obscures the ways in
Before proceeding further, I emphasize which these discourses co-constitute
that the signifier “postcolonial” is used the spaces that later come to be iden-
here in a nonhyphenated manner,2 not tified as belonging to the “economy” or
in a “thin” sense to indicate the chrono- the “nation.” Hegemonic projects, such
logical aftermath of being colonized, as those of the right wing in the present,
but in a “thick” sense to indicate the owe their success to how they weave to-
significance of inhabiting a global pres- gether what are generally perceived to
ent which continues to be marked by be contradictory aspects of nationalism
the colonial encounters and the ways in and neoliberalism. To highlight this, I
which the inherited legacies of “race,” will argue for an articulation of “postco-
“religion,” and “nation” are coded prox- lonial neoliberal nationalism” (PNN),
ies for power that continue to shape the proposing it to be the functioning of a
politics of the socio-economic behavior governmentality that I will illustrate in
of individuals, the attitudes of collectiv- the context of India.
ities, the implicit hierarchies of/within Here, a space-clearing gesture
international institutions. In this sense, would be to address the rationale for
we all live in a postcolonial world (a using the term neoliberalism.4 Clarke
6
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
generates a long list of sites, institu- end of the twentieth century onward.
tions, processes, and practices that he Vanaik7 succinctly outlines the key par-
recognizes as being identified as neo- adoxes of Indian society as fractured by
liberal.5 It is a nonexhaustive list, and various social forces—liberal democra-
though he sees this as a potential prob- cy inserted into a predominantly rural
lem when finding spaces of resistance society, regionally diverse, with divisive
uncontaminated by neoliberalism, I religious politics yet integrative caste
would argue that articulating neoliber- politics, divided along linguistic elec-
alism with nationalism and postcolo- toral lines, industrializing with differ-
niality, in fact, “reduces its density and ential and uneven cultural and political
totalizing weight—and the analytical weight distribution among rural and
and political breathlessness that such urban elites, making the middle class
weight induces.”6 This is because a con- a base for Hindutva politics, and a Left
ceptualization of “PNN” allows a more that is no threat to the bourgeoisie.
complex understanding of the terms on Against this backdrop, the changes of
which the economic and the cultural, or the recent years have, on one hand, been
the nation and the international, or the conceptualized as a transition from de-
state and the market become visible to velopmental to cultural nationalism, so
us as separate, and the ideological work that while the former was rooted in the
performed by seeing these domains as paradoxes of political economy, the lat-
having endogenous internal logics. ter fetishizes culture to account for the
lack of material transformations that
For instance, the example of
were envisaged.8 On the other hand,
India under the BJP (Bharatiya Jana-
the recent changes have also created the
ta Party) rule is one where neoliberal
impetus for new analyses that link the
practices get legitimized as a matter of
ways the Hindutva project has sought
nationalist pride for they are deemed
to marketize religion by a repositioned
to enable the “rise” of postcolonial In-
understanding of state, society, and
dia. In India, through its use of PNN,
markets, that facilitates entrepreneur-
the BJP wants to emulate the West in
ial, self-regulating, spiritual notion of
terms of neoliberal policies, keep it at
citizenship that suits both market in-
bay in terms of ideas of secularity, and terests and religious nationalism.9 The
compete with it by “rising” as a global argument in this paper is sympathetic
power. to, and complementarily builds upon,
Existing work on the intersec- these directions of inquiry; however,
tions of neoliberalism and nationalism this paper is not an interrogation of the
in the Indian context largely focuses on historical Indian project of nation and
trajectories of capital accumulation and class formation, or a postulation of the
social forces mediated by the dynamics chronological transitions within this
of class, caste, region, and religion that trajectory, or an attempt to account for
led to the dramatic rightward shift in the successful rise to power of the BJP
Indian politics and economy toward the in India.
7
Indian Politics & Policy
The claims made here are as fol- here) countries, but a desire for return
lows: there is an interpretive value in to a (quasi)imperial past as political
challenging the oppositional under- nostalgia that also allows the combin-
standing of neoliberalism and national- ing of seemingly contradictory aspects
ism where it exists (and notwithstand- of neoliberalism and nationalism.
ing the exceptions discussed above, it
is a ubiquitous dichotomy); it allows us Rethinking the Narratives
N
to make visible how this binary facili-
tates a systematic local/international, eoliberalism and Nationalism
material/symbolic, regressive/progres- are rarely analyzed for the ways
sive mapping; it enables us to refuse the in which they are intertwined,
distinction between political economy and more often pitted against each oth-
and cultural politics so as to reclaim an er as opposing tendencies. In exception-
analytical space for a governmentality al cases, when the two are reconciled,
approach that focuses on the function- it still relies upon a schematic under-
ing of the always already co-constituted standing of two autonomous domains
imaginaries of “nation” and “economy” with their own endogenous logics.11
in the construction of subjects to obtain Neoliberalism is generally char-
consent for specific policy regimes. acterized by the way in which it de-
The final prefatory remark would territorializes capital, disrupts tradi-
be to note that the “non-West” is often tional communitarian affiliations of
taken to be the site that demonstrates identity, and weakens the underlying
the validity, applicability, or otherwise foundations of the nation-state by shift-
of theoretical approaches that come ing power toward the globally mobile
from, and draw upon, the experienc- transnational corporate entities, and
es and dynamics as understood in the away from the governments that are
“West.” In this sense, this paper also faced with ever greater constraints in
adopts a postcolonial epistemological terms of what they can regulate, how,
stance,10 whereby through the discus- and to what extent. Nationalism, on
sions related to uncovering a nuanced the other hand, is seen in terms of how
form of governmentality in India, it is the nation either creates an associated
also an invitation to other scholars to sense of identity and belonging or how
explore how these dynamics play out in the collective imagining of a nation, as
the West, where the hegemonic right- an entity, manufactures a sense of be-
wing successes of the recent years have longing and affiliation. In line with this,
relied upon inverted imaginaries (in, for the dominant narratives of the present
instance, projects such as “Brexit” and see the successes of the right wing as
“Make America Great Again”) of re- a nationalist reaction to the neoliberal
covering, not a pre-colonial purity and transformation. There are a number of
power, to heal from a colonial wound analyses that seek to focus on the vic-
as in postcolonial (hyphenated chrono- tory of a Trump or a Modi as a reaction
logical sense of the word being used of the working classes or the poor who
8
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
have lost out from the process of neo- neoliberal project in Mexico as an iter-
liberal globalization.12 It is possible to ation of a modernization project which
complicate this picture, both empirical- had a defining moment when NAFTA
ly (such as by analyzing the socio-eco- was adopted; “inspired from abroad,
nomic backgrounds of the specific based on alien cultural assumptions, yet
demographics who voted for the right- sitting on the side of institutional politi-
wing) and, as I will go on to argue, the- cal power,” it is a project doomed to fail
oretically. because it is fundamentally at odds with
Even in more nuanced consid- a “deep Mexico,” the indigenous “Méx-
erations of the interrelations between ico profundo” of Mesoamerican civili-
neoliberalism and nationalism, the un- zation.18
derlying narrative remains one of there These narratives hinge upon, and
being an oppositional relationship be- require, a systematic understanding of
tween the two. For example, looking at an oppositional binary as the key dy-
neoliberalism in terms of an ideology, namic between the global and local, the
a strategy and an era, Davidson and material and the symbolic, the neolib-
Saull study its contradictions when it eral and nationalist. They can be prob-
is embraced by the nonrevolutionary, lematic for at least two reasons. On one
restoration politics of the far-right.13 hand, they lay out and implicit grid of
They write: “Neoliberalism, then, has values where openness, cosmopolitan-
helped create the conditions for the ism, and progressivism can only ever
re-emergence of the far-right whilst, at fall on the neoliberal or the interna-
the same time, the far-right has focused tional (read western) side of the binary.
on attacking what it sees as the symp- Hence, the signifier West and its coming
toms of neoliberalism through racializ- into being is insufficiently interrogated.
ing its social, political and economic ef-
On the other hand, maintaining these
fects.”14 Assessing the changing fortunes
binaries requires the depoliticization of
of political traditions, Crouch sees the
the category economic so that a certain
coalitions among parties representing
modernist rendition of economic logic
neoliberalism and conservatism as “an
is presented to as transparent, univer-
alliance of two horses going in diver-
sal, inevitable, and as the only possible
gent directions.”15 Here too, we find this
form of rationality.
idea: “Through their endorsement of
neoliberal change, conservatives help By making sense of the dynam-
usher in globalisation, but through their ics and the impacts of neoliberalism
identification with the nation they can and nationalism in separate registers,
then gain from the revived nationalism we miss out on understanding pre-
that opposition to globalisation stim- cisely how a separate and separable
ulates.”16 This contradiction between understanding of neoliberalism and
the two is also often mapped through nationalism makes it possible for a gov-
the global and the local binary. Cas- ernmentality to operate by fashioning a
tro-Rea17 traces the ascendancy of the kind of political subjectivity that feels
9
Indian Politics & Policy
about the nation but accepts the econo- lationships with their economic rivals,
my as beyond the “common person.” If, cut corporate taxes, outsource and in-
following Foucault, government is seen vite foreign investment, remove labor
as the “conduct of conduct,” governing and environmental regulations, and
can be understood as controlling the speak of enforcing tariffs and support
possible field of action of others, as the of domestic jobs and industries. They
producing of governable subjects. An are both nationalist and neoliberal at
analysis of governmentality is therefore the same time. Far from being inept or
inclusive of understanding the practic- acting in error, these departures from
es of government within institutions of the standard scripts of nationalism and
the state and the process of governing neoliberalism in the economic and cul-
and the mentality of government to- tural domains are key to the hegemony
ward the end of manufacturing the will of the project of the Right today.
of the governed.19 An analytics of gov- With this in mind, it is possi-
ernment is also to ask how the practices ble to argue the following. Neoliberal-
of governing give rise to specific forms ism, as a technique of governmentality,
of truth. works by creating political outcomes
If we see neoliberalism and na- that are seen as purely economic ones
tionalism in isolation, we observe that by its adherents. It works to create a
at the heart of neoliberal utopian gov- society where capital is privileged over
ernmentality lies the aim of creating labor, those with more capital are priv-
subjects who are active, efficient, and ileged over those with less, and where
able; which is to say that they give con- attempts to change the former two (i.e.,
sent to their own calculable deploy- trying to alter the balance to revalue la-
ment in a fluid, amoral, unembedded, bor, or revalue those with less capital)
and transparent manner. In contradis- by any means of policy (for example,
tinction to this, the kind of submission unionization, regulation, nationaliza-
required of the aims of the nationalist tion instead of “flexible” labor markets,
utopian governmentality is different; deregulation, privatization) is seen as
the subject possesses the ability to act unscientific, irrational, or both, by de-
on emotions and yet be bounded by the fining and facilitating the understand-
authority of tradition. The reproduc- ing of rationality in purely economic
tion of these ideals is driven by imag- terms and economic/s as a scientism
inaries, but these are not necessarily devoid of history or ideology. Neolib-
continuous imaginaries. Moreover, in eralism, as a technique of governmen-
a postcolonial world, the imaginaries tality, produces individuals subjected
of both these discourses rely upon both to this power of capital over labor, and
pride and futurity in ways that end up keeps in place the epistemic obstacles
seeming contradictory—so we have, to recognizing and altering this bal-
right-wing nationalists in power who ance. Furthermore, the neoliberal axis
promise to return glory to a nation, and of power is vertical. Neoliberalism
simultaneously support both closer re- can be said to create a differentiation
10
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
though the Hegelian power relation alist and colonial, or postcolonial na-
of the Master and Slave. The state and tionalist and colonial in terms of how it
the neoliberal market forces encounter sees the enemy. The State may abet ma-
and proceed to a struggle, whereby the jority nationalism, or it may seek it un-
state may see its powers eroded by the dermine it.
neoliberal reforms that enable transna- The postcolonial nature of the
tional corporations to make a play of its present means that both nationalism
injunctions, or it may see itself as a bol-
and neoliberalism have the nation-state
stering ally of these same corporations
entangled right at the heart of their un-
as it creates injunctions to enable the
derstanding, a tranversality that cuts
play of neoliberalism. The state is not
through dynamics of neoliberalism and
in any fundamentally determinist sense
nationalism. The positing of the na-
opposed to the market, the state can be
tion-state as a dominant form for orga-
rolled back by the market, or it may be
nizing our understanding of socio-eco-
expanded as a useful ally of the market.
nomic dynamics is worth noting in
One might even say in a Hegelian vein
terms of coloniality of the nation-state
that the market only becomes “free”
form and the commodification of the
with the help of the state.
nation-state form.
Nationalism, as a technique of
governmentality, works by creating po- The contemporary nation-state
litical outcomes that are seen as intrin- is Eurocentric—in its conceptual or-
sically cultural by its adherents. It works igin, in the key institutions that facil-
to create a society where a majority is itate interactions between such na-
manufactured into the rightful Self and tion-states, and in the hierarchical
defined against an enemy Other, and imaginaries associated with them and
any attempts to challenge the existence their colonial/“race” basis.20 The twenti-
or nature of the dividing line are seen as eth-century era of decolonizations was
unpatriotic, irrational, or both, by de- also simultaneously the proliferation of
fining and facilitating an understanding the nation-state21 as a form in the newly
of patriotism on the terms of the ma- postcolonial states. So, we have this hy-
jority alone, and presenting rationality phenated entity (the nation-state) that
as pure Self-interest. Nationalism, as a acts as a focal referent for the exercise
technique of governmentality, produces of power in relation to territory, iden-
individuals subjected to the divide be- tity, and capital. This overworked idea
tween the Self and the Other in/of the of the nation-state in the present car-
nation. In a necessary circularity, the ries many burdens: citizens must feel
nation is defined as preceding the na- pride in the nation, but not nationalize
tionalism that it supposedly naturally their industries; the systems must work
creates. Nationalism creates differentia- on neoliberal tenets derived from neo-
tion through the Schmittian horizontal classical economic theory where equi-
power hierarchy of the Friend and the librium requires the free movement
Enemy. The State, again, can be nation- of the factors of production, but labor
11
Indian Politics & Policy
cannot be allowed to move freely across ed) is to be modern like everyone else
the borders of nation-states; all inter- in the international system, to have
nationally recognized nation-states are the same consumption aspirations, to
in theory equal legal persons, but in have finally achieved “a sense of pride”
practice some are more equal than oth- and a place in the sun. This powerful
ers. All the same, the nation-state must and interlinked postcolonial–neoliber-
both be the source of nourishing affec- al–nationalist imaginary gets an addi-
tive belonging (give its citizens an em- tional fillip when media discourses in
powering sense of identity that they can the West mock the “backwardness” of
feel pride in) and also be able to reflect non-Western nations.22
ever better in the global league of other Rather than perceiving the neo-
such nation-states (the rate at which its liberal, the nationalist, and the postco-
economy grows); in other words, a na- lonial, as inhabiting separate, though
tion-state must be able to tell the best occasionally overlapping, registers, it is
possible story about itself to its own cit- more fruitful to acknowledge the pol-
izens and to the rest of the world. This itics of this separation, and recognize
is a task filtered through a processing of that discourses and practices of neolib-
the coloniality of history and memory. eralism and nationalism are tied with
Colonialism was an erasure of other ways of seeing/doing politics, and
multiple histories, and in the postco- the present global resurgence of the
lonial world that we find ourselves in, right wing is happening in a world with
memory itself is sought to be colonized. postcolonial sentiment and re-senti-
This is what the right-wing movements ment. A PNN that co-constructs the
in the formerly colonized nation-states idea of nation and economy—is at work
seek to do when they refer to the purity as a strategy of governmentality that
of a mythical national past prior to the creates a political subjectivity where
“taint” of colonization. They promise a the population is faced with what one
return to a more vigorous nation, which might call the “politics of the absurd.”
has regained its moral and civilizational In this politics of the absurd, the
purity, healing from the colonial wound conventional sense of what is “political”
by reaching back in time to relive the is partly lost. Nationalism, including
present as the glorious past. However, identity, pride, and hatred, gets mobi-
this is not all. The appeal of a successful lized as a natural part of the affective
right-wing movement in a formerly col- politics, while questions of ideologies,
onized state draws not merely from this distribution of wealth, survival, and/
identitarian nativism; it derives equal- or livelihood that ought to be central
ly from the promise of a future where to politics are put into the “safe house”
the healing of the colonial wound can of economy beyond the realm of pub-
only be complete by achieving a level lic debate. Politics, as a field of contes-
of consumption and lifestyle “like the tation between competing and iden-
West.” In this sense, to have neoliberal tifiably different ideological domains,
ethos (to carry out the “reforms” need- recedes from view. Thus, a technocratic
12
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
rationality places what is properly polit- a cultural one, what does such a binary
ical as the beyond of investigation and achieve?
critique. The fundamental political and The cultural effects of neoliberal-
economic questions become obscured, ism, insofar as they are recognized from
while the population sees the effects of a neoliberal point of view, are seen as
specific responses to such political and being essentially freeing, secularizing,
economic questions, presented to them modernizing, in short, Westernizing for
as being inevitable. What is more, the the better. The cultural effects of neo-
technocratically determined idea of ra- liberalism from a nationalist point of
tionality in governance makes conflicts view are seen as degenerative, immoral;
of interests become unidentifiable. That Westernizing for worse. The economic
which is most obviously in view be- effects of nationalism insofar as they are
comes structured in such a manner that recognized from a neoliberal point of
it is naturalized and rendered obscure view are seen as being essentially pro-
from questioning. For example, in this tectionist and anti-developmental, in
politics of the absurd, inequality be- short opposing a Westernizing for the
comes ever increasing, and yet impossi- better. The economic effects of nation-
ble to address. An individual subject is alism from a nationalist point of view
overwhelmed by a simultaneity of help- are seen as necessary and potentially
lessness and endless striving. The ideal profitable for nation-building.
subject of the nation-state is the one
who is made by, and accepts unques- Thus, when nationalism and
tioningly, the PNN form of governmen- neoliberalism are understood in mutu-
tality. As the case of India shows, with ally opposed registers, they enable both
the combination of strategic silence and the immiserizing effects of neoliberal-
a deliberately proliferated lack of trust ism (greater inequality, monetization
in general, questioning the emerging of relations, commodification of intan-
hegemonic discourse becomes difficult gibles) and the pernicious effects of na-
as the contradictions in its enactment tionalism (revanchism, anti-minority
come to be accepted as inevitable and populism, conservatism) to be seen as
necessary.23 Neoliberal nationalist ideas “unintended consequences,” and not as
and practices come to be owned as central to the creation of the subjectivi-
postcolonial so long as it contributes to ties needed for the constitution of neo-
transforming the country into a rising liberalism or nationalism.
power emulating, while still being dif- In India, the conundrum con-
ferent from, the West. cerning the simultaneity of the his-
torical arrival of neoliberalism (liber-
The Indian Case alization) and communalism (Hindu
W
nationalism) illustrates how these two
hen Neoliberalism is seen as are usually analyzed separately, and
an economic phenomenon thus, explanations that bridge this ana-
and nationalism is seen as lytical gap are hard to find. For instance,
13
Indian Politics & Policy
14
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
S
neoliberalism simultaneously in the na- o far, I have argued that, in our con-
tional/international construction. temporary world that is marked by
Finally, it might also be noted postcoloniality, neoliberalism and
that the articulation of postcolonial nationalism are usually understood op-
with neoliberal with nationalism in positionally, and that this oppositional
the Indian context, as a way of under- understanding makes one appear eco-
15
Indian Politics & Policy
nomic and the other cultural, as if each most basic, there is a resonance in the
has their own endogenous and separa- imaginary of the nation as a motherland
ble logics. Such an understanding relies or fatherland that demands sacrifice,
upon, and allows for, the operation of a submission, and duty, and the anthro-
systematic mapping of a set of binaries pomorphic metaphors of the economy,
such as local/international, material/ such as that of the market as an individ-
symbolic, and regressive/progressive. ual prone to “nervousness” in the case
Furthermore, it facilitates the construc- of adverse (for example, labor-favoring)
tion of a kind of politics of the absurd policies.35 Here, I wish to focus on how
where the essentially “political” nature the imaginary of the economy can be
of contestation over the most import- yoked and co-constructed with that of
ant social questions is surrendered in the nation to make it possible to gener-
favor of an inevitability about what are ate consent for different kinds of poli-
seen as the “economic” dynamics, and cies which might seem contradictory at
instead, the active manipulation and first glance.
co-construction of imaginaries of the In the bildungsroman of the BJP
“nation” and “economy,” such as by the and its precursor organizations in India,
right-wing hegemonic successful proj- we can read these chapters on the fus-
ects, as in India (and elsewhere), is seen ings and transformations of economy/
in terms of nationalist responses to nation. If the contemporaneous arrival
neoliberalism. The yoking together of of neoliberalism and Hindutva nation-
postcolonial with neoliberal with na- alism in India are seen to generate a par-
tionalist as I have done here, to propose adox, consider how and why the BJP, as a
the functioning of a governmentality Hindu nationalist party, furthered “glo-
termed PNN, is presented as an ap- balization” (read neoliberalism) when
proach that allows for the recognition of it succeeded in gaining power as part
what is obscured and obfuscated when of the NDA coalition in 1999 and then
these dynamics are understood in sepa- came to power with massive majority
rate analytical registers. In other words, in 2014. The answer to this is because
this governmentality approach reclaims BJP’s successes, like those of similarly
the understanding of a political space ascendant right-wing parties elsewhere,
linked to the functioning of imaginar- rely upon the exercise of PNN; the eco-
ies in the construction of subjects in or- nomic and cultural are intertwined in
der to obtain consent for specific policy the so-called culturalist Hindutva vision
regimes. In this final section, I discuss of the BJP, its Sangh Parivar allies and
this political traffic between nation/ its antecedent parties. Let me illustrate
economy imaginaries with reference this with the example of the fusing of
to the Indian example case of Swadeshi “Swadeshi” to “Make in India.”
and “Make in India” projects. Swadeshi, which literally means
Ideas about the co-construction “of one’s one country,” in the economic
of the nation and the economy can be sense of promoting indigenous goods
run together in several ways.34 At its or domestic industry, especially cloth or
16
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
17
Indian Politics & Policy
18
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
calls it “A major national program de- whether India was too big to suc-
signed to facilitate investment, foster ceed or too big to fail. India was
innovation, enhance skill development on the brink of severe economic
and build best-in-class manufacturing failure.
infrastructure.” There is considerable
irony in how the well-recognized “Make Process
in India” logo—a lion made up of inter-
... It was a powerful, galvanising
connected gears—was designed by a
call to action to India’s citizens
foreign firm (a fact revealed by a Right
and business leaders, andan in-
to Information or RTI application),48
vitation to potential partners and
or that at the launch event in Septem-
investors around the world. But,
ber 2014, PM Modi stood in front of
Make in India is much more than
a “Make in India” sign in English and
an inspiring slogan. It represents
in literally lettered Hindi (without any
a comprehensive and unprec-
Hindi translation)49 and spoke of his
edented overhaul of out-dated
definition of FDI for Indians as “First
processes and policies. Most im-
Develop India.”50
portantly, it represents a complete
The official Make in India page change of the Government’s mind-
says the following:51 set—a shift from issuing authori-
ty to business partner, in keeping
Program with Prime Minister Modi’s ten-
et of “Minimum Government,
The Make in India program was
Maximum Governance”.
launched by Prime Minister
Modi in September 2014 as part
Progress
of a wider set of nation-building
initiatives. Devised to transform ... The most striking indica-
India into a global design and tor of progress is the unprec-
manufacturing hub, Make in edented opening up of key
India was a timely response to a sectors—including Railways, De-
critical situation: by 2013, the fence, Insurance, and Medical
much-hyped emerging markets Devices—to dramatically high-
bubble had burst, and India’s er levels of Foreign Direct In-
growth rate had fallen to its low- vestment .... Today, India’s credi-
est level in a decade. The promise bility is stronger than ever. There
of the BRICS nations had fad- is visible momentum, energy and
ed, and India was tagged as one optimism. Make in India is open-
of the so-called “Fragile Five”. ing investment doors. Multiple
Global investors debated whether enterprises are adopting its man-
the world’s largest democracy was tra. The world’s largest democracy
a risk or an opportunity. India’s is well on its way to becoming the
1.2 billion citizens questioned world’s most powerful economy.
19
Indian Politics & Policy
The backdrop of these statements for businesses like Ambani and Adani,
is vital to unpack. In 2013, the various Modi’s long-term backers from Gujarat,
vested interests with an effective voice who had invested in his political cam-
and exit option, distilled and anthro- paign),53 but developmental returns
pomorphized as “market sentiments,” were promised to everyone in poverty
were volatile, and as the 2014 elections who would be provided with “maxi-
neared, it was made clear that the “time mum government” in spite of reduc-
for making bold new reforms is run- tion in inefficient government expen-
ning out, with national elections due to diture and “minimum governance.” A
take place by May 2014.”52 Deconstruct- sense of pride was promised to every
ing the framing of the “Make in India” Indian overseas and within the coun-
introduction for how it juxtaposes the try, upon the conditionality that they
political/economic/cultural, we can see not be “anti-national”—where anti-na-
how the Make in India is meant to be tionals could be those opposing not just
the “nation-building” program that state violence (human rights activists)
has been delivered by Modi, the man but also those opposing neoliberal ex-
who “saved” the failing economy, and ploitation (environmental activists).
a democracy that was “too risky to be Under the right wing in India, these
banked” upon. The elections in May “anti-nationals” have become the tar-
2014 that brought the Modi-led BJP to get of serious abuse, vilified as “foreign
power were preceded by a juggernaut of funded” and “western-backed” for their
corporate media reports and a densely protest against foreign/western compa-
saturated media where Modi was every- nies that seek to exploit Indian resourc-
where, including where he was not, by es and vulnerable local populations, by
way of his holograms. In order to bring supporters of “nationalist” super-rich
the savior into power as the CEO of the industrialists who seek to restore the
country as company (he was indeed fe- nation to some untainted pre-colonial
licitated in terms of the country getting “Hindu” past, while also making it a
a new CEO), the nation/economy had to Western-style economy of malls and
be represented as failing. With the GDP four-lane super highways.
growing at just below 5%, the pressure In this nation-building exercise
was being piled up by a range of actors of “Make in India,” swadeshi plays a cu-
in a way that the “economy” was being rious role by its absence yet presence.54
coded for the country, the (Hindu/busi- The lack of mention of swadeshi on
ness) nation, and “development” was Make in India page may, at first, be in-
the answer for all the malaise. There terpreted as the sign of an aggressively
were promising returns in all these for neoliberal government that is, in fact,
the large investors/investment in Modi pro-market, and has given up on the
(his campaign was the most expensive “backward” sort of economic nation-
in the history of the country, and every alism that its RSS grassroots supported
surge in his popularity ratings resulted and continue to support. However, on
in massive gains on the stock markets a closer look, this is contestable. Where
20
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
once the BJP’s success relied upon a in India, has been to call out Make in
melding of swadeshi and globalization, India as “swadeshi through the back
now that requires a further fusing with door” and as something harking back
the idea of creating a global manufac- to the days of “Be Indian, Buy Indian.”57
turing hub. As a result, while some have
As the examples below illustrate, called Make in India “a more radical de-
Make in India is simultaneously claimed parture from the principle of swadeshi,
to follow from Gandhian Swadeshi and consonant with a classical liberal un-
to promote economic nation-building derstanding of ‘minimum govern-
through encouraging neoliberal incen- ment’ in national economic affairs,”58
tives for foreign firms to manufacture others see it as “modest deregulation
in India which is now projected globally wrapped up in a swadeshi cloth,”59 and
as a free-market-friendly deregulating still others have called for “Make for
economy. But, Make in India also seems India” and “Made by India.”60 The Re-
to be consonant with import-substitut- serve Bank of India (RBI) Governor at
ing industrialization, which would be the time, Raghuram Rajan, cautioned
the conventional opposite of free-mar- that Make in India should instead be
ket principles. So, the Rajasthan Chief Make for India.61 In his view, Make for
Minister Vasundhara Raje stated, “Ma- India should be focused on increasing
hatma Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement domestic demand by pursuing a range
and the ‘Make in India’ programme were of reforms, since a manufacturing-fo-
based on the same ideology,” adding cused strategy of export-oriented in-
that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dustrialization will not work in the cur-
‘Make in India’ encouraged the feeling rent global climate where other Asian
of ‘swadeshi’ to make India economi- economies are already well on way to
cally independent and self-sustaining, pursuing such a strategy, and a strate-
which was the need of the hour.”55 Yet at gy of import substitution will increase
the same time as Make in India claims inefficiency, decrease competition, and
to be opening “investment doors” in a increase costs to consumers. Rejecting
free-market-friendly neoliberal new In- this, the Finance Minister Jaitley said,
dia, there is also the report that: “Prime “Whether Make in India is made for
Minister Narendra Modi has asked consumers within India or outside is
Union ministries to discourage ‘ines- not so relevant. The principle today says
sential imports’ and leverage the coun- that consumers across the world like to
try’s manufacturing skills in substitut- purchase products that are cheaper and
ing them. Towards this end, the Union are of good quality. They hire services
ministries are required to furnish status which are cheaper and good quality.”62
reports every quarter and also brief the Projecting meaning to these multiple
Prime Minister.”56 The response to this domains of nation and economy which
obvious import-substituting approach, are co-constructed in a fluid sense as
which will rely upon the government a governmental strategy of the ruling
investment rather than on FDI in Make right wing in India, Make in India can
21
Indian Politics & Policy
N
policies. The BJP’s powerful stitching
ationalism and neoliberalism together of Swadeshi and Make in India
are often understood to be op- logic shows that far from there being a
posed ideologies. This paper
contradiction in the ideologies of neo-
has argued that such an oppositional
liberalism and nationalism in the way in
understanding, especially in light of the
which they are pitted against each other
rise of the Right in the contemporary
through the Market versus State narra-
postcolonial world, misses the com-
plex ways in which the two intermingle. tive, the political and the economic are
Both nationalism and neoliberalism inextricably intertwined in the dynamic
work together in a PNN governmental- which is insufficiently understood if we
ity that makes people, populations, and look at neoliberalism or nationalism in
citizens, consent to specific policies, isolation. The successes of the contem-
as ideas of nation-state and economy porary Right owe significantly to how
are co-constructed. The postcolonial they deploy both neoliberalism and na-
nation-state, entangled in the middle, tionalism as part of the same technique
continues to mimic the West as well of governmentality, which is rooted in
as repudiate it. I have attempted to the appeal to a constructed postcolonial
uncover this nuanced form of govern- sentiment in the way in which it ties the
mentality (PNN) in the case of India rising power status to aspirations his-
and demonstrated its working through torically denied by the West.
Notes
1 Stuart Hall, “On Postmodernism and Articulation: An Interview with Stuart Hall,” Journal of
Communication Inquiry 10 (1986): 52.
2 This theoretical (and not merely chronological) sense of the postcolonial is analogous to that
used in the groundbreaking volume Empire Writes Back in order to signal the “continuity
of preoccupations” in the formal colonial period and afterwards. See Bill Ashcroft, Gareth
Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial
Literatures (London: Routledge, 1989). For further discussion and alternative assessments, see
Peter Childs and R. J. Patrick Williams, An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theory (London:
Prentice Hall/Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997), 1–25.
22
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
3 This is a fact not just in the global South or the formerly colonized contexts where the idea
of the “West” plays a very specific role, but also holds for non-Western countries like China
where there is a subliminal presence of the West as an anchor of desire. Even for those contexts
recognized as being Western, say the United States or the UK, the self-perception and terms of
engagement with the “international” continue to be deeply imbued with an imperial nostalgia
and an attendant pride in the memory of such power.
4 For a compilation of objections to the use of the term neoliberalism, see Rajesh Venugopal,
“Neoliberalism as Concept,” Economy and Society 44 (2) (2015): 165–87. Critiquing widely
quoted texts on the subject such as David Harvey’s, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2005) and Jamie Peck’s, Constructions of Neoliberal Reason (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2010), and giving a short shrift to Wacquant’s work on poverty
and imprisonment, he argues for the term neoliberalism to be disposed off. Firstly, because
it is over-stretched and has multiple and contradictory meanings, my counter-view would
be that we must understand the multiple ways in which an “ambiguous” referent creates
meaning. Secondly, because it is a term not used in economics (Venugopal, op cit. 16); hence,
it creates a lack of understanding of economics as a discipline. Here, my response is that an
opposition to the use of the term “neoliberalism” can also end up fetishizing and reifying
economics as having an exclusive purchase on the appropriate descriptors of supposedly
economic processes (on this, see Nitasha Kaul’s, Imagining Economics Otherwise: Encounters
with Identity/Difference, London: Routledge, 2008). Should we not speak of poverty, given
the way that the mention of it has been neglected in mainstream international economics?
Aurora A. C. Teixeira and Luis Carvalho, in their article “Where Are the Poor in Mainstream
International Economics?” Poverty & Public Policy, 6 (2014): 215–38, doi:10.1002/pop4.77,
applied bibliometric techniques to analyze 1,800 articles published over a 40-year period
(1971–2010) in the most orthodox journal in the field of international economics, and found
that only 13 articles published in the JIE (Journal of International Economics), less than 1% of
the total, addressed it in any of its dimensions.
5 See John Clarke, “Living With/in and Without Neo-Liberalism,” Focaal—European Journal of
Anthropology 51 (2008): 138.
6 Ibid. 145.
7 See Achin Vanaik, “The Paradoxes of Indian Politics,” History Compass 5 (4) (2007): 1078–90.
8 See Radhika Desai, “Introduction: Nationalisms and Their Understandings in Historical
Perspective and Conclusion: From Developmental to Cultural Nationalisms,” Third World
Quarterly 29 (3) (2008): 397–428, and 647–70.
9 See the following: Meera Nanda, The God Market: How Globalization Is Making India More
Hindu (New York: NYU Press, 2011). Nandini Gooptu, “New Spirituality, Politics of Self-
Empowerment, Citizenship, and Democracy in Contemporary India,” Modern Asian Studies
50 (3) (2016): 934–74. Priya Chacko, “The Right Turn in India: Authoritarianism, Populism
and Neoliberalisation,” Journal of Contemporary Asia 48 (4) (2018): 541–65. Priya Chacko,
“Marketizing Hindutva: The State, Society, and Markets in Hindu Nationalism,” Modern Asian
Studies 53 (2) (2019): 377–410, doi:10.1017/S0026749X17000051.
10 For more on the relevance of locating a postcolonial moment in epistemology, see Kaul 2008,
op cit. 113–16.
11 See Adam Harmes, “The Rise of Neoliberal Nationalism,” Review of International Political
Economy 19 (1) (2012): 59–86. Harmes theorizes how variants of conservative/populist/
xenophobic nationalism are essential for economic neoliberalism. Multilateral agreements
23
Indian Politics & Policy
24
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
25
Indian Politics & Policy
neoliberalism in conflict, and refers to the way in which “nationalism took over the role of
religion as ‘the heart of a heartless world’ ... the resurgence of religious belief is real, although
not extensive enough to roll back all the achievements of secularisation, and it is almost
everywhere it is subordinated to local nationalisms” (ibid. 37). My argument is that religion
is a conspicuous and significant part of the nationalist vocabulary in the formerly colonized
nation-states, even in contemporary times (and irrespective of whether this nationalist stance
is supportive of, or positions itself in opposition to, neoliberalism). In contrast to the need for
a colonial will to power to forget (forget to remember, while knowing) its religious roots, anti-
colonial nationalism as a force of resistance to colonization was often articulated in a religious
language, and this is a rich vein for contemporary postcolonial neoliberal nationalism too.
The secular idiom of anti-colonial nationalist resistance, which was more elite, is much more
recognizable in Western political scientific literature; this is because, first, although historically
rooted in spreading Christianity, narratives of Western colonization actually became established
and rehearsed in terms of in political economy of rationality, and management of territory and
peoples; and second, because resistance to coloniality grounded in religion is often classified
and bracketed with knowledge that belongs to anthropology and not international relations
or politics proper.
33 For more detail on the rise and contradictions of Baba Ramdev, see Santanu Chakrabarti,
“The Avatars of Baba Ramdev: The Politics, Economics, and Contradictions of an Indian
Televangelist,” in Global and Local Televangelism, eds. Pradip Ninan Thomas and Philip
Lee (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Others laud his brand and refer to him with an
honorific suffix “Baba Ramdevji”; see Vinod Kumar, Ankit Jain, Zillur Rahman and Akhil
Jain, “Marketing Through Spirituality: A Case of Patanjali Yogpeeth,” Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences 133 (2014): 481–90.
34 See the following: George T. Crane, “Economic Nationalism: Bringing the Nation Back In,”
Millennium: Journal of International Studies 27 (1) (1998): 55–75. George T. Crane, “Imagining
the Economic Nation: Globalisation in China,” New Political Economy 4 (2) (1999): 215–32,
doi: 10.1080/13563469908406395. Andrew Wyatt, “Building the Temples of Postmodern
India: Economic Constructions of National Identity,” Contemporary South Asia 14 (4) (2005a):
465–80. Andrew Wyatt, “(Re)imagining the Indian (Inter)National Economy,” New Political
Economy 10 (2) (2005b): 163–79.
35 Linguistically speaking too, there is a history of how words construct imaginaries of power.
The term Company Sarkar was used for the East India company that literally referred to a
colonial corporation that acted as government; “Sarkar” or ruler added a positively connoted
idea of dignity and respect to the pedestrian commercial nature of a company. In contrast, the
term Permit Raj was used for the pre-reform era of post-colonial India that literally referred
to a state bureaucratic monopoly that acted colonially; “Raj” or kingdom adding a negatively
connoted idea of arbitrary rule that ended when the economy was “opened up” and the nation
was free to pursue its destiny in the new world.
In September 2016, the Indian PM Modi announced a “surgical strike” had been carried out
against Pakistan; it was a move that deflected attention from an uprising in Kashmir and created
a sense of consent around the idea of “nation.” In November 2016, the PM again suddenly
announced a demonetization policy by calling it a “surgical strike” on “black economy.” The
idea of surgical strikes in the interests of the nation and in the interests of the economy created
legitimacy for problematic policies and action for/against specific vested interests.
36 Chris A. Bayly, “The Origins of Swadeshi (Home Industry): Cloth and Indian Society, 1700-
1930,” in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, ed. Arjun Appadurai
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 285.
26
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
27
Indian Politics & Policy
the logo for the campaign. See “‘Make In India’ Logo Designed by Foreign Firm,” HuffPost,
January 15, 2016, accessed March 26, 2018, http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/01/15/make-
in-india-logo-designer_n_8981498.html:
No tenders were invited for designing Make In India logo. In 2014–15, tenders were invited
by the ministry for appointing a creative agency. And on its basis, Wieden+Kennedy India
Limited, was chosen. And it’s this company which designed the logo for Make In India ....
According to the ministry’s response, the advertising agency was hired for the advertising
and promotions of the entire Make In India campaign for a period of three years and paid
Rs 11 crores for the same.
The logo is described by its creators as having been derived from the Indian national emblem
and that “the prowling lion stands for strength, courage, tenacity and wisdom—values that are
every bit as Indian today as they have ever been.”
The aporia of nation in a globalized world of neoliberal policies and a need to create postcolonial
pride can be traced back in time. For example, Wyatt (2005a, op cit. 469) states: “Indians will
not necessarily build the temples of postmodern India.” He writes this is with reference to a
2004 India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) investment brochure funded by the Government
of India but posted on a website owned by an agency of the Government of Singapore, in
which the hope was expressed that “Asia’s construction giants” will create the FDI-funded
integrated townships of new India.
49 See the image at “PM launches ‘Make in India’ global initiative,” PMINDIA, September 25,
2014, accessed March 26, 2018, http://pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pm-launches-make-
in-india-global-initiative/.
50 “My definition of FDI is ‘First Develop India’, PM Modi says at ‘Make in India’ campaign
launch”, The Times of India, September 25, 2014, accessed March 26, 2018, http://timesofindia.
indiatimes.com/india/My-definition-of-FDI-is-First-Develop-India-PM-Modi-says-at-
Make-in-India-campaign-launch/articleshow/43413679.cms.
51 Quotes, with emphases added, from “Make in India,” accessed March 26, 2018, http://www.
makeinindia.com/about.
52 “India’s economic growth slowest since 2009,” CNN Money, August 30, 2013, accessed March
26, 2018, http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/30/news/economy/india-gdp/.
53 See Nitasha Kaul, “On Hindutva Hate Politics: A Few Things I Wasn’t Able to Discuss with
Ram Madhav on Al Jazeera,” Scroll.in, December 30, 2015, accessed March 26, 2018, https://
scroll.in/article/778661/a-few-things-i-wasnt-able-to-discuss-with-bjp-leader-ram-madhav-
during-his-al-jazeera-interview.
54 A search with the term “swadeshi” brings up no results anywhere in the comprehensive archives
of the Make in India project and documents. And yet, the wikipedia entry begins “Make in
India, a type of Swadeshi movement covering 25 sectors of economy.” While the government
trumpets its success, the assessment by others is less than mild: “Almost nothing has gone as
planned to attract investors to make in India”; on this latter, see “PM Modi Calls the World to
‘Make In India,’ But The Initiative Fails to Take Off,” Forbes, July 24, 2017, accessed March 26,
2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/suparnadutt/2017/07/24/missing-the-mark-pm-modi-
courts-the-world-to-make-in-india-but-the-initiative-fails-to-take-off/#74f37c4c785c.
55 “Gandhi’s Swadeshi and ‘Make in India’ Based on Same Ideology: Vasundhara Raje,” The Indian
Express, October 21, 2015, accessed March 26, 2018, http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/
jaipur/gandhis-swadeshi-and-make-in-india-based-on-same-ideology-vasundhara-raje/.
28
The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism
56 “Substitute Non-Essential Imports, Make in India: PM,” The Indian Express, October 25,
2014, accessed March 26, 2018, http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/
substitute-non-essential-imports-make-in-india-pm/.
57 “Make in India Should Not Rely on Swadeshi Through the Back Door,” FirstPost, October 26,
2014, accessed March 26, 2018, http://www.firstpost.com/business/economy/make-in-india-
should-not-rely-on-swadesh-through-the-back-door-1994679.html. See also “Pro-business or
Pro-consumer?”, LiveMint, October 13, 2014, accessed March 26, 2018, http://www.livemint.
com/Opinion/pXEpjJmAGlkFjqfVAjcB1J/Probusiness-or-proconsumer.html.
58 For instance, Sanjay Ruparelia, “‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’: The
Restructuring of Power in Modi’s India,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 38 (4)
(2015): 763.
59 For instance, Iwanek, Op cit. 30.
60 The call for “Made by India” comes from SJM (Swadeshi Jagran Manch), the outfit referred
to earlier on. Along with BMS (Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh), they have opposed the reforms;
see “RSS affiliates like Swadeshi Jagran Manch oppose BJP government’s push for economic
reforms,” The Economic Times, April 1, 2016, accessed March 26, 2018, http://economictimes.
indiatimes.com/articleshow/51644317.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_
medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst. They see the reforms as based on a western model of
development that is nonindigenous and unsustainable; see “We Need a Vision of ‘Made by India’:
Swadeshi Jagran Manch,” December 25, 2015, accessed March 26, 2018, http://economictimes.
indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/we-need-a-vision-of-made-by-india-swadeshi-
jagran-manch/articleshow/50327326.cms. For instance: ““We should buy goods and services
made by India with its indigenous technology and components. The slogan therefore should
be “Made by India” and not “Made in India””; this quote is from “Economic Patriotism and
Techno-Nationalism Needed,” Swadesh Jagran Manch, accessed March 26, 2018, http://www.
swadeshionline.in/article-author/economic-patriotism-and-techno-nationalism-needed.
61 Raghuram Rajan, “Make in India, Largely for India,” Reserve Bank of India, December 12, 2014,
accessed March 26, 2018, https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=930.
62 “Jaitley Rejects Rajan’s Criticism of Make in India,” The Hindu Business Line, December 29,
2014, accessed March 26, 2018, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/jaitley-
rejects-rajans-criticism-of-make-in-india/article6735101.ece.
29