A More Indian Path to Prosperity? Hindu Nationalism and Development in the Mid-Twentieth Century and Beyond

Abstract:The question of how a country can pursue economic policy while safeguarding its— its national autonomy and identity from foreign influence in an unequal world has assumed new importance in the context of the rise of authoritarian leaders and critical interrogation of globalization in the late twentieth century. The analytic power of terms like neoliberalism and populism is questionable in explaining the economic policy mix or trajectory of an individual nation, especially in the non-Western world. Unearthing the idioms of expression and claims to authenticity of various political interests vying for influence on the scale of the nation-state may be more fruitful. A mosaic of such fragments can help illuminate the opacity of the economic present. Turning back to the period of decolonization in the mid-twentieth century, this article shows how India’s recently ascendant Hindu nationalists sought to stake their legitimacy on reconciling economic development to their form of cultural nationalism. It shows how and why Hindu nationalists fashioned a program of small-scale local industrial development and intranational trade as a more authentic alternative to the economic planning being pursued in India and elsewhere. This vision of development focused on the small Hindu trader of North India, the Hindu nationalists’ chief constituency. The legacies of this vein of thinking live on, bolstering popular support for Hindu nationalism and posing challenges to efforts seeking to further integrate India into the global economy.