Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s enviable popularity among non-resident Indians is perhaps linked to his emergence as an ostensible resolution to the identity crisis they experience in foreign countries. Most of these NRIs will never relocate to India even as they pine for it, both as an aspect of their memory and as the principal fount of their cultural identity.



It is the theme of cultural identity that unites different segments of the Indian diaspora. There are those whose ancestors were taken away from the land of their birth as indentured labour and settled in what were then the British colonies. Then there are those who migrated voluntarily to the developed world, primarily inhabited and culturally dominated by whites. Their motivations to migrate were aimed at enhancing their economic condition or working in a system which could help flower their intellectual potential and skills, or a combination of both.



The cultural dislocation the second category of migrants from India experience is understandable, too rooted as most of them are in their traditions to embrace a way of life alien or remarkably different from theirs. However, cultural dislocation haunts their progenies in second and third generations as well, eloquently portrayed through the popular initialization of ABCD, or American-born Confused Desi.



Hoary values



Though tossed around in mirth in the United States, the ABCD speaks to us of a cultural phenomenon that is heartfelt if not tragic. Paranoid about getting sucked into the whirlpool of western culture, with its emphasis on individualism, irreligiousness, and moral values dubbed as lax or loose, the first-generation migrants seek to anchor their children in the hoary Indian tradition, classical as well as popular. Really, you would not want your children to become what you yourself do not want to be.



From this psychological-cultural matrix springs the identity crisis of NRIs. They are torn between two cultures, one which is dominant and the other in which they are socialised at home. So you have parents imbibing in their children Indian cultural values, or ideas about religion, rituals and lessons derived from the great epics. In the NRI child is thus born a sense of his or her cultural distinctiveness from others around him or her.



Since this distinctiveness is built around cultural insecurities, the NRI’s experience often deters him or her from embracing the mainstream lifestyle. It is isolating as well as makes them feel inferior, which though is often dressed up as cultural uniqueness and superiority. This distinctiveness gets further accentuated as the child develops a consciousness that arises from being in a minority, or from countenancing racial discriminations, real or imagined, or from his or her lesser privileged position. Even many of those sailing the sea of success have their lifeboats made of planks sawn from Indian culture.



Political overtones



It is because of cultural identity that the word Indian acquires complicated connotations among the NRIs. To a large segment of Hindus among them who feel the pressure of negotiating with the western culture, Indian tradition becomes synonymous with Hindu tradition. This Hindu tradition has acquired unmistakable political overtones because the task of its propagation and preservation is now shared between family and cultural-religious organisations, which have mushroomed over the last 30 years.



Most of these organisations owe allegiance to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party, often with overlapping leadership. This creates a situation in which “Indian” equals “Hindu” – and which, in turn, equals the RSS-BJP. It is this linkage which explains the popularity of Modi among a segment of NRIs, who better fit the descriptive of non-resident Hindus of India.



In this sense, Modi presents to the Hindu NRI the possibility of resolving his or her identity crisis. He is the leader who is unabashedly Hindu, who kept the Navratra fast on his trip to the United States trip, who is considered the Hindu Hriday Samrat but who is also now the prime minister. Here is the man who was denied the American visa because of the grisly 2002 Gujarat riots, but who is feted and courted by none other than the US president. Ultimately, seen through this prism, it becomes the story of the Hindu triumphing over the American, of Hindu culture measuring to that of the West.



Modi also promises to these dislocated, culturally confused Hindus a new dawn in their land of origin, a reason for them to feel proud of their original home from where they or their ancestors came. He tells them of government employees who have begun to report on time in India, as they do in their adopted land. He speaks of providing an India as clean as the country in which they reside. He shows them the dream of an India rising to take its seat at the global high table. To his NRI followers, it is the India that is Hindu he is speaking about.



Organisational support



In Australia, he talked of having Hindi included in the state-sponsored programme on foreign languages, of propagating yoga and ayurveda, and, just in case his audience had missed out, reminded them of his United Nations speech in which he detailed the benefits of yoga in the modern era. Before embarking on his trip to Australia, Modi had also spoken in Mumbai about the Indians in ancient times mastering the science of plastic surgery.



To the insecure Hindus abroad, all this is a vindication of their belief that their ancient past was glorious. It is altogether a different matter that we often fantasise about what is lacking in us.



Despite Modi’s intuitive understanding of the cultural insecurities of non-resident Hindus of India, his astonishing popularity among them would not have been possible without the support of Hindu religious-cultural organisations. Take the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, which is celebrating its silver jubilee in the United States this year. The HSS conducts 140 weekly meetings, or shakhas, countrywide, with the aim of “maintaining Hindu cultural identity in harmony with the larger community”.



Sangh-BJP politics



The HSS has a children’s programme called Balagokulam, where, the website says, “children learn about their Hindu heritage” so that they can become confident representatives of Hindu Dharma. “They have fun playing games with other kids,” the website declares. And pray, what are the games these children play? Kho-kho and kabaddi. For the youth, the HSS conducts Yuva Sangams, or youth gatherings, where the emphasis is on “character-building” and where “inspiring lessons” from ancient scriptures are narrated to offer them role models. To the busy parents, these shakhas would seem ideal cultural incubators. Yet, simultaneously, their children cannot but emerge from these sessions as overly proud Hindu Americans who support the Sangh-BJP politics.



The HSS has branches both in America and Europe, with some of its office-bearers also supervising the Overseas Friends of BJP, which is a vital instrument for mustering support for the ruling party abroad. Just to cite a few examples: Vishal Soni is an HSS activist, who is also the convenor of Denmark’s OFBJP, as is also true of OFBJP’s convenor in France. Its Toronto chapter is headed by Azad Kumar Kaushik, who is credited with forming the Canadian wing of the World Brahman Federation, which seeks to promote Brahman values.



Many of OFBJP convenors or presidents were connected to the RSS-BJP before they migrated from India. Australia’s Sanjay Patel grew up in Mehsana, Gujarat, was an active RSS member, and played a role in making Modi’s Vibrant Gujarat a success. Would it be difficult for him and the Sangh to gather 20,000 ecstatic Indians to listen to Modi? Behind the gathering of Indians we watch on TV is the untold story of the Sangh’s formidable organising capacity.



Narrow NRI definition



What is true of Australia is also true of the US. The president OFBJP America is Jayesh Patel, who too grew in Gujarat and who is credited with having “served” the Indian-American community through various cultural, religious and political organisations. In case you wonder about the nature of these organisations, the BJP website notes, “He (Jayesh) is also associated with Sangh Parivar organisations in USA.” Then again, America’s OFBJP president elect, Chandrakant Patel, was a “childhood karyakarta of the Jan Sangh and BJP” in his home state of Chhattisgarh. Its immediate past president is Adapa V Prasad, who was a childhood swayamsevak before he migrated from India.



In addressing the cultural insecurities of Indians, these organisations, affiliated or owing allegiance to the RSS, end up defining the NRI as Hindu, besides driving a wedge in the community. It is to this section of NRIs that Modi is a darling, a rock star, a veritable hero. This sectional support for Modi among the NRIs leaves out all those Indians who do not wish to adopt the RSS construct of Hindu identity or who, to begin with, are not Hindu



But the RSS, obviously, will not be bothered. As the HSS website declares, “Hindu Jage, Vishwa jage (When the Hindu awakes, the world awakes).” Obviously, till then, we are all deemed to be asleep. This is an eloquent testimony to the Sangh-Hindu NRI interface being driven by feelings of insecurity and inferiority.



Ajaz Ashraf is a journalist from Delhi. His book The Hour Before Dawn will be published by HarperCollins in December.



