By Manali Joshi
Soft power refers to the ability to persuade others to do something without using force or coercion. It is the ability to influence the ‘perception others have of you’ by using other means, such as culture, spirituality, music, cuisine, and political ideologies. Today, most countries use a combination of soft and hard power, together called smart power. Since Narendra Modi became the prime minister in May 2014, India has employed a blend of both, but with a strong focus on soft power.
Immense potential of India’s soft power
India boasts an amazing variety and wealth of soft power resources. Topping the list is its spirituality. India, which is also called the land of gods, has given birth to several of the world’s great religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Christianity reached India before it reached Rome and Islam is also widely practiced, due to the historical presence of Islamic powers in the country.
The peaceful propagation of Buddhism is a multi-millennia old bond that India shares with the rest of the Asian continent. Indeed, the propagation of Buddhism from India is a testament to the power of its civilisational pull. India’s culture has absorbed all these religions, with its followers living in harmony with one another; it stands out as a true example of ‘unity in diversity.’ Given its ethnic diversity, India has a lot of potential to use this soft power to increase its cultural pull and to boost tourism.
Strong social systems
India also has the potential to become a global hub for education and healthcare. Globally, India is regarded as a knowledge-producing machine with its doctors, engineers, scientists, and software professionals being the first preference of the international community. Indian education is seen as being of high quality. India has some particular advantages in attracting students through low annual tuition fees, a low cost of living and the well-established presence of the English language.
The Indian healthcare industry also seems to be growing at a rapid pace and is expected to become a $280 billion industry by 2020. India is quickly becoming a hub for medical tourists seeking quality healthcare at an affordable cost. Reduced costs, access to the latest medical technology, growing compliance with international quality standards and the ease of communicationall these work to India’s advantage.
Indias film industry is probably the largest and farthest-reaching medium for spreading Indian culture, surpassing Hollywood with an annual output of over 1000 movies. Although India produces over 1,500 films annually, the country’s share in global cinema revenue is a mere 1%. Both Indias film industry and the government have done little to leverage the power of Bollywood and other regional cinema industries globally. Lastly, the biggest instrument of India’s soft power is the large diaspora across different continents, which can support the policies of the Indian government through the influence and respect they command in the countries in which they live.
Limitations in using soft power
Indian diplomacy has hitherto neglected soft power as an important tool of governance and has only recently understood the relevance of cultural diplomacy. According to Portlands Soft Power 30, India is not among the top 30 countries that excel in soft power capabilities. Indias soft power seems to have limited geographical outreach as most of the foreign students studying in India come from the Middle East and neighbouring South Asian countries.
India also lacks the required infrastructure to promote tourism. Prime international destinations such as the Taj Mahal do not have adequate facilities like good tourist guides, tourism packages, and sanitation. Various Hindu pilgrimage sites lack clean toilets, especially in places like Varanasi or Mathura.
In a paper titled The False Promise of India’s Soft Power, Rohan Mukherjee attributes Indias soft power limitations to three central elements: Indias soft power resources are over-exaggerated, India does not have enough hard power to match its soft power, and finally, India is unsure about the type of power it wants to become. Indias cultural outreach initiatives are unattractive when compared to the British Council, Alliance Francaise, the Japan Institute and perhaps even the recently launched Chinese Confucius Institute.
The Modi government’s impoverishment of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) means that India’s film industry participates in only a few international film festivals. Meanwhile, the government’s main focus has been to raise India’s profile as the home of yoga. While getting the United Nations to designate June 21 as International Yoga Day was a good start, the government has not done anything further to promote yoga-related tourism. Today, yoga teachers in the US make more money than traditional gurus in India. Lastly, India has to tackle its internal issues such as religious conflicts, gender-based violence, poverty, and ethnic to improve its perceived goodwill on the global platform.
2014 elections: a watershed
Narendra Modi was elected Prime minister in the 2014 elections, after which he marked a significant shift in the conduct of foreign policy. He has made efforts to cultivate people-to-people ties, which can be seen from his decision to visit Xi Jinpings hometown and invite the Chinese leader to his hometown in return.
Another instrument he is wielding is digital diplomacy. Modis Twitter account has around 9.5 million followers and he has skillfully used the platform to demonstrate his close friendship with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as to extend a public invitation to President Obama to attend Indias Republic Day celebrations in 2015. Modis surprise visit to Lahore on the occasion of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs birthday further supports Modis personal relationship approach. These efforts are all ultimately directed at stronger bilateral ties which may translate into commercial or strategic benefits for India.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister is using the Indian diaspora to establish the countrys influence. For instance, during his 2014 Madison Square Garden rally in New York City, he called on Indian Americans who are financially well off to team up and participate in Indias growth and serve their ancestral homeland. He similarly called on Indians in Japan and Australia to do the same. Another striking feature of Modi’s approach is his choice of communicating in Hindi. By choosing the vernacular over English, he has succeeded in increasing the prominence of Indian culture in his appeal and in establishing pride in the language.
Pursuance of an active policy
Since 2000, India has undertaken a number of new initiatives, in particular, several coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs. Five developments are especially significant: Indias effort to reach out to overseas Indians, its attempts to build connections with foreign business interests, its nascent foreign aid and development program, its use of major events to showcase a ‘nation-brand’ India, and its use of social media to reach out to younger, tech-savvy audiences.
In 2004, India established a separate Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA). Its mandate is to bring onboard all interested stakeholders to work on matters relating to overseas Indians. The MOIA has been charged with responsibility for the welfare of non-resident Indians living and working overseas, many of whom are potentially vulnerable to exploitation. It also works to showcase the new India globally. The MOIA has been successful in negotiating a series of bilateral memoranda of understanding with other states concerning social security provisions and other migrant labour rights.
Forging ties with stakeholders
Other than the establishment of MOIA, India has been working to improve its ‘nation branding’ in various other ways. India showcased its pashmina shawls, Bollywood songs, and promotional materials for its high-tech industries at the 2006 Davos summit. It followed this up with India@60 in 2007. This involved linking events in India, the US, and Europe and was covered in a series of prestigious publications, including a special issue of Forbes magazine. In 2007, it also launched the ‘Incredible India’ campaign.
If one were to examine all these efforts by the current government to promote soft power, the focus appears to have been on Ayurveda, yoga, and Buddhism, besides reaching out pro-actively to the Indian diaspora. One achievement which built on this was the passing of the Nalanda University Bill by the Parliament. India has been reaching out to East Asian and South East Asian countries through their historic Buddhist link. The establishment of the new university helped the Modi government to strengthen the ties with its neighbours.
During his visits to Sri Lanka, Japan, Mongolia and China, prime minister Modi sought to draw upon Indias Buddhist links with these countries and visited important shrines in order to show his genuine feelings behind the gestures. Modi has also used Sufism to build links with Central Asia. The 2016 Sufi conference held in New Delhi must be viewed in this context. Knowing very well the great strength of India’s historic religious links, the Modi government is using spiritualism to influence Indias relationships with other countries.
Influencing the diaspora
The prime minister also made use of the Indian diaspora in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore by addressing their issues and emphasising the goodwill of the country towards them. During his visit to Africa too, he reached out to Indian communities that have settled there. In line with the previous governments diaspora outreach initiatives, such as the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas introduced by Vajpayee in 2002, Modi has been trying to recognise the untapped potential of Indias large diaspora network of approximately 25 million people. Yet, so far, his use of soft power has had a limited effect in terms of nurturing stronger relations with other countries and will require the parallel implementation of hard power.
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