While he was still a child, the parents of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to arrange his marriage with the daughter of a well-known family—a traditional custom in the village where he came from. Once the legal age to formalize the union was reached, Modi, who lacked a family vocation, left home and disappeared for two years. During this period, in which he showed no signs of life, he was a wandering nomad, traveling through the northern provinces of the country. When he finally returned home, seeing him appear through the door, his troubled mother asked him where he had been all that time. “In the Himalayas,” she replied tersely. He then went to the local center of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the National Volunteer Association.
The anecdote, collected by the British writer Andy Marino in
Narendra Modi: a political biography
, indicates, among other things, the Indian prime minister's devotion to the institution that introduced him to the doctrine of Hindu nationalism, an organization so relevant in India. as unknown outside its borders.
The Indian prime minister is often compared to populist figures such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Türkiye. Strong men with an authoritarian disposition. However, Narendra Modi is not a character who fits easily into the usual political categories. Contrary to the populist divide that contrasts the “decadent elites” with the “true people”, the Indian
premier
has achieved transversal support in the most diverse and complex society that exists. Modi is supported by the economic elites - the new plutocracy whose wealth has grown exponentially under his mandate - but also by the poorest sectors, backward castes and the outcasts or
Dalits
, who see in his brilliant career, the son of a modest tea seller. in a railway station to stellar prime minister, an exemplary career.
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But, above all, Modi's popularity responds to the changes brought about by a reform movement that emerged in 1925 with the aim of advancing the Indian national cause from Hindu identity. This is the RSS, a formation that over a century, with some ups and downs, has increased its field of action until it became the main agent of cultural transformation in the country. In that march, in the 1980s, the campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to the god Rama in the city of Ayodhia, where the Babri mosque was located, elevated the movement and underpinned the pillars of contemporary Hindu nationalism. Three decades later, last January, Modi inaugurated the Rama temple, enshrining the official status of Hindu national identity.
The RSS has a network made up of more than 37,000 meeting centers, the
shakkas
, where it provides social help and instruction in the values of Hinduism. The association also acts as a matrix for the nearly 40 affiliated groups that operate in different areas of interest such as the company, the tribal population, or the Indian diaspora abroad, and which includes the main workers' union in the country, with 10 million members, to the student organization Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad - considered the largest student association in the world - and to Modi's triumphant political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). All together they form the
sangh parivar
, the “family”.
Although the affiliated units are autonomous, there is a relationship of hierarchical interdependence between them and the RSS. In the case of the BJP, in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, tens of thousands of volunteers participated in the campaign by distributing electoral material, preparing studies and advising on communication technologies. The result was notable, in both cases the party obtained the greatest victory in its history.
In order to attract new sympathizers and dilute the most controversial aspects of its ideology, the RSS has made economic and social development the
leitmotif
of Hindu nationalism. Concern for the environment, attention to the problems of poverty, education and health occupy the center of his speech.
This mix of religious regenerationism and desire for progress coincides with the approach adopted in the government by Narendra Modi, with clear success in view of the achievements of the last decade. If in 2014 the lack of communication and transport infrastructure threatened to create a bottleneck, today the sections of rural roads, ports, highways and airports have doubled. Social welfare programs, coined with Modi's photo, have quadrupled access to piped water in the countryside, doubled electricity transmission lines and virtually eliminated open defecation—a basic health need. Digital transformations have had a direct impact on governance with the implementation of a biometric identification system that allows citizens to receive direct aid from the State, eliminating the figure of mediators, and saving billions in losses due to corruption. Internationally, India has increased its global influence and has been able to capitalize on the diversification of foreign investments induced by tensions between the United States and China. The most recent example, the announcement of the collaboration between the Indian company Tata and the Taiwanese Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) to manufacture semiconductors in the state of Gujarat.
A string of economic achievements that has been accompanied by a decline in democratic quality. Criminal investigation agencies are accused of acting selectively against the opposition and critics of the Government. The most notable cases have been the disqualification of the leader of the Congress Party Rahul Gandhi and the arrest, a month before the elections, of Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the opposition. Socially, a climate of insecurity has developed for the country's 200 million Muslims, and few dare to report the abuses to which they are subjected. India's position in press freedom indexes declines.
From a liberal perspective, it is striking that the Indian population does not seem to care about this drift. Rather the opposite. The most controversial measures on the agenda of the BJP and the RSS - the construction of the Ayodhia temple, the repeal of article 370 of the Constitution, or the Amendment to the Citizenship Act - have been implemented with more glory than sorrow. Modi is the most popular politician in the country, and therefore in the world. A rising value. Which, among other issues, highlights, first, the citizens' priorities. The population puts effective political management before individual rights. Second, it also reveals the precarious state of the opposition. The historic Congress Party appears incapable of offering a credible alternative. And finally, changes in society's perception of itself. Modi's popularity cannot be explained without the sustained work of the RSS over time. He is the product of a calculated top-down strategy. But also pressure from below to above. An osmosis between a model of national construction and a society with strong identity drives.
India's eighteenth general elections begin this Friday. The outlook is favorable for the BJP. In view of the country's global ascendancy, it is important to understand the changes occurring in Modi's India.
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