J. S. Asian Stud. 05 (01) 2017.

39-47

Available Online at ESci Journals

Journal of South Asian Studies

ISSN: 2307-4000 (Online), 2308-7846 (Print)
http://www.escijournals.net/JSAS

SOFT POWER - A MAJOR TOOL IN MODI’S FOREIGN POLICY KIT

Swaroopa Lahiri*
Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, New York, United States of America.

ABSTRACT

While India has always had various soft power strategies, they had limited success as they were not coupled with hard
power such as a strong military force and advanced defense capabilities, notably nuclear capability. However, the past
decade was an important turning point which marked India’s growing hard power, fuelled by robust economic growth
and its assertive maritime policies, which in turn made strengthened its soft power projection. Soft power has become
one of the cornerstones of the current Indian Premier Narendra Modi Doctrine and is an important theme in most of his
state visits. This paper analyzes the different soft power components used by the Indian government, especially the
Modi government, in order to further its foreign policy goals, as well as some of the limitations to India’s soft power
potential. This paper is organized in the following manner: the first section defines soft power, Modi’s dominant foreign
policy canons and how his government differs from the previous governments in the use of soft power; the second
section focuses on the four broad tenets of Indian soft power namely civilization and ancient heritage (Buddhism, yoga,
Ayurveda, Sanskrit etc.), democracy, Bollywood, economic aid and to a small extent, Modi’s personal charisma and how
their exercise relates to India’s foreign policy objectives; the third section addresses the shortcomings of Indian soft
power and the fourth section concludes the paper.
Keywords: Foreign policy, India, Narendra Modi, Soft power.

SOFT POWER DEFINITION AND MODI’S FOREIGN interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and
POLICY PRINCIPLES cooperation for mutual benefit and peaceful co-
Joseph Nye coined the term soft power and explained it as existence”, the Modi government has formulated its own
one of the three ways of exerting power. According to foreign policy doctrine labeled Panchamrit. Panchamrit’s
Nye, “power is the ability to alter the behavior of others five pillars are “dignity, dialogue, shared prosperity,
to get what you want” (Nye, 2006). and there are three regional and global security and cultural and
methods of altering behavior namely coercion, payments civilizational links” (Panchsheel Gives Way to
and attraction. Soft power falls in the third category and Panchamrit, 2015). This new foreign policy ideology
a country has three main sources of soft power: “its assumes that India has finally “arrived”, has achieved
culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its superpower status and is now a major, confident global
political values (when it lives up to them at home and player instead of a mere observer. Panchamrit is much
abroad), and its foreign policies (when they are seen as more assertive in its tone, compared to the pacifist spirit
legitimate and having moral authority)” (Nye, 2006). of Panchsheel. Most of Modi’s diplomatic visits reflect the
The Modi government has mainly relied on culture and notion of shared prosperity, regional security and
political values (democracy) to promote Indian soft cultural and civilizational ties as elaborated in Section 2
power. As opposed to the Nehruvian foreign policy through the use of culture and economic aid.
doctrine Panchsheel whose five principles were “mutual While the use of soft power in foreign policy has not been
respect for each other's territorial integrity and spearheaded by Modi, he has certainly been more forceful
sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, mutual non- about the projection. While previous governments have
* Corresponding Author: also used soft power to support foreign policy, their
Email ID: [email protected] efforts were comparatively more ad-hoc and lacked a well
© 2017 ESci Journals Publishing. All rights reserved. formulated and consistent approach. On the other hand,

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the Modi government is taking baby steps to develop a The charm of Buddhism was skillfully deployed in India’s
cohesive, strategic and institutionalized approach to the immediate neighborhood: Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan
use of soft power which would most likely increase its (one of the first countries Modi visited as a Prime
effectiveness in foreign policy. Minister). Modi’s Kathmandu visit was characterized by
THE FOUR BROAD TENETS OF INDIAN SOFT POWER his 4 Cs agenda namely cooperation, connectivity, culture
RELEVANT FOR FOREIGN POLICY PURPOSES and constitution and he even gifted a Bodhi sapling to
The Modi government’s areas of soft power emphasis are Nepal, reiterating the cultural angle (Pethiyagoda, 2015).
linked to the century old Indian ideals such as India’s role As Pethiyagoda (2015) claims, cultural connect was
as a “vishwaguru” or the world’s teacher or the notion of perhaps most beneficial in Sri Lanka as it helped reduce
“vasudhaiva kutumbkam” which implies that the whole animosity and foster a more friendly bilateral
world is a big family. The four broad categories of the relationship. Modi invoked the ancient Indo- Lankan
display of soft power are ancient heritage or civilizational Buddhist connection, dating back to the Mauryan Empire
ties, democracy, economic aid and Bollywood. Each of under Ashoka. He also made a strategic choice to visit Sri
these four aspects is explored below along with their Lanka’s ancient capital, Anuradhapura and the Jaya Sri
foreign policy aims. Mahabodhi which served as a witness to historically
Ancient heritage and civilizational ties (Buddhism, yoga, strong Indo-Lankan ties (De Silva, 2015). In addition, he
Sanskrit, Ayurveda, Power of Zero) inaugurated the India funded Jaffna Cultural Center and
Ancient heritage and civilizational links mainly appeal to paid a visit to Colombo’s Mahabodhi Temple (Pratap,
the culture and regional security characteristics of the 2015:59). Similarly, in South Korea, Modi replanted a
Panchamrit. According to Modi, “in the present era, which Bodhi tree sapling India had sent earlier. This in turn
can be considered an era of knowledge, our roles and served to create closer economic ties between both
responsibilities have increased. We have to emerge as a countries, resulted in an influx of Foreign Direct
vishwa guru, not only to give new direction to the world, Investment (FDI) from South Korea primarily to improve
but also to protect our own heritage” (Martin, 2015). He infrastructure and help build smart cities (India
also portrayed India to be the best of both worlds as India Tomorrow.net, 2015). In addition, it enabled Modi to lure
was young in terms of demographics while South Korean companies to invest in the Indian
simultaneously being one of the most ancient civilizations manufacturing sector to boost his coveted “Make in India”
of the world. Two major themes under the ancient initiative, deepen defense cooperation and enhance
heritage banner are Buddhism and yoga. Buddhism and technology transfer between both countries among other
yoga are earnestly exploited by India so that it is objectives (India Tomorrow.net, 2015).
recognized as the world’s spiritual capital. Even before The most publicized state visit was Modi’s China visit.
Modi took power, former governments placed a lot of Given that China is experiencing cultural renaissance
emphasis on using Buddhism as a cultural tool. For the under current President Xi Jinping, Modi seized the
past decade, the Ministry of External Affairs’ wing, the opportune moment to make Buddhism an underlying
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has theme during his state visit. Once again, he chose to land
organized several Buddhism themed conferences in East in Xian first instead of Beijing to visit the Wild Goose
Asian countries such as Thailand (April 2010) and South Pagoda, emblematic of Xuanzang’s monumental travel to
Korea (May 2010). The Nalanda University, supported by India and gifted a Bodhi sapling to the Xian government
members of the East Asian summit was also set up by (Aneja, 2015). Modi played the culture card in China to
Manmohan Singh’s administration to strengthen advance India’s economic interests; India desperately
civilizational ties. Building on his predecessor’s policy needed Chinese FDI to shrink the balance of payment gap
discourse, Buddhism has been the catchphrase associated with China and the 24 agreements signed during Modi’s
with most, if not all, of Modi’s East Asian country visits visit were mainly trade agreements, agreements to
and his Look East/Act East policy. Modi has explicitly establish twin cities and cooperation in scientific
claimed that “without Buddha, this century cannot be research (De Silva, 2015). Still, the cultural overtone of
Asia’s century” (Pethiyagoda, 2015) and that during all his trip failed to yield satisfactory results on the strategic
his visits abroad, a day is reserved for visiting a Buddhist front as China perceived an inadequate balance between
temple (Aurora 2015). India’s hard power and soft power, hence undermining

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India’s hard bargain potential. is actively marketing that destination (Nandy, 2015). To
Stobdan (2016) indicates that there are a few use this to its full advantage, India has been considering
bottlenecks when India uses Buddhism as an outreach the option of issuing visa-on-arrival to Buddhist tourists
factor. Firstly, India has less than one percent of visiting the country for religious tourism. The Indian
Buddhists and there exist major rifts plaguing the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in collaboration with
Mahayana tradition in India. In addition, Buddhism has the World Bank will also be developing a fast track
been completely transformed in India, having been Buddhist Tourist Circuit (Martin, 2015). Apart from
eliminated from the subcontinent by Islam at the end of Buddhism, the pragmatic Modi government is using
the thirteenth century. Hence, modern day Indian other religions to underline strong ties with countries,
Buddhism is devoid of the original teachings and especially Central Asian countries which are vital for
practices and has been instead subsumed in the Hindu India’s growing energy appetite as part of its Connect
narrative. In order to create a common link with other Central Asia policy. Modi expressed that Islam tied India
East Asian countries, Modi has resorted to scraping the and Central Asia and softened his staunch Hindu
surface using ancient heritage sites in India instead of nationalist stance by claiming that “the Islamic heritage
more deeper and substantial religious discussion. Also, of both India and Central Asia is defined by the highest
as Pethiyagoda (2015) illustrates, Modi government’s ideals of Islam – knowledge, piety, compassion and
Buddhism focus is also apparent in some of the official welfare” (Pant, 2015). Despite these endeavors, Modi
government initiatives. On 4 th May 2015, India initiated has not yet adopted an institutional approach to
and hosted International Buddha Purnima Diwas to incorporate religious aspects in its foreign policy – there
celebrate the birth of Lord Buddha. Incidentally, it was exists no formal department similar to the US State
on this same date that Modi made his first appearance Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, for
on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo to example, to supervise religious outreach initiatives.
reiterate the ancient civilizational link between the two Another major facet of Modi’s cultural diplomacy is
Asian giants. Furthermore, New Delhi would have a yoga. After successfully lobbying at the United Nations
center for Buddhist worship and learning and would General Assembly, Modi managed to institutionalize an
host an International Buddhism conference in 2016. annual International Day of Yoga, the first of which was
Buddha diplomacy is being flaunted by the Modi 21 June 2015. Modi claimed that yoga was India’s gift to
government for two key foreign policy goals; a strategic the world and it led to a peaceful harmony of the body
one and an economic one; namely to offset Chinese soft and the mind and helped “discover the sense of oneness
power and to stimulate religious tourism in India. with yourself, the world and the nature” (Mohan, 2014).
Buddhism is perceived to be a central tool in rebalancing The World Yoga Day was widely welcomed, especially
power dynamics in East and South East Asia where both since Modi kept religion out of his yoga discourse and
China and India compete for geopolitical influence. capitalized on the global yoga boom and popularity.
Hence, while China has taken steps to build and preserve During the International Yoga Day, in addition to a
Buddhist monasteries in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, spectacular yoga parade in New Delhi, the Indian Armed
Modi’s strategy is to visit monasteries during his trips to Forces also celebrated the day with great pomp (Forces
East Asia and present countries with saplings from the Display Soft Power, 2015). The world’s highest
sacred Bodhi tree in Bihar. In the light of economic battlefield, Siachen Glacier, witnessed soldiers
competition, Buddhism can either mellow bilateral practicing yoga despite sub-zero temperatures and as
relations or help India gain leverage by roping in the part of the “Yoga Across Oceans” initiative, the Indian
support of East Asian countries. Navy members had yoga sessions stretching from the
Cultural appropriation rivalry between India and China Mediterranean waters to South China Sea. Furthermore,
over Buddhism has intensified ever since Modi came the Modi government set up a separate ministry called
into power. While the Chinese government views AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and
Lumbini in Nepal (Buddha’s birthplace) as the focal Homeopathy) to institutionalize India’s ancient heritage
point of religious tourism, the Indian government endowment as well as to help Ayurveda attain the same
asserts that Bodh Gaya in Bihar is much more important exalted status as Chinese traditional medicine through
since that is where Buddha attained enlightenment, and better packaging and promotion (Martin, 2015).

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Yoga has generally been used for image building by India Headquarters to showcase its age-old intellectual tradition
and as a means to allay fears associated with its hard and contributions.
power build-up. This is the Indian counterpart to China’s DEMOCRACY
concept of “Peaceful Rise”. India happens to be the Previous Indian governments have recognized
world’s largest weapons importer, primarily from democracy as one of India’s most valuable assets. In 2000,
countries such as France, United States, Israel and Russia India became a founding member of the Communities of
and Modi’s ambition of developing a prosperous domestic Democracies and joined the UN Democracy Fund in 2005,
defense industry points to India’s growing military power being its second major donor after the United States
aspirations (Tandon, 2016). In order to gain support for (Sudhindra, 2015). However, India has traditionally been
this objective and to establish itself as a powerful regional reluctant to actively promote democracy overseas
hegemon in South Asia, it is imperative that India’s (especially given the disastrous consequences of
international image is untarnished and that it is largely democracy export attempts by the United States in the
viewed as a peaceful, spiritual, non-threatening and Middle East) and has preferred to set an example instead.
benevolent ally. In fact, Australian Prime Minister Tony Nevertheless it has quietly helped young democracies
Abbot agreed to sell uranium to India mainly because of asking for India’s assistance. For instance, much of the
its non-threatening position in the international arena UPA government’s Africa policy revolved around
and his belief that India had a spotless track record when institution building, mainly to assist democracy
it came to non proliferation. (Tandon, 2016). transitions. Like his predecessors, Modi is not a
Both yoga and Buddhism are influential branding vociferous advocate of democracy promotion abroad yet
mechanisms for India. Having armed forces take part in he has smartly used democracy as a talking point during
the World Yoga Day was a smart move as it projected a his diplomatic engagements. For example, during his
peaceful Indian military that refrained from aggression; travels to Bhutan, Nepal, United States, Australia, South
a completely opposite image compared to the current Korea, Japan and Myanmar, he has constantly played up
image of the Chinese military, thereby increasing India’s democracy card to facilitate strategic engagement
international goodwill for India. Some other attempts to with the West and unite with other Asian democracies on
highlight ancient heritage are the use of Sanskrit and the the basis of shared values. He has often proclaimed that
power of zero, both emphasizing India’s world teacher democracy made India an important global partner. An
posture. Sanskrit can be used to appeal to countries like interesting case is Modi’s visit to Mongolia on the latter’s
Indonesia, the biggest and most powerful ASEAN 25th democratic anniversary (Pant, 2015). The buzzwords
member whose language has been greatly influenced by of this trip were Buddhism and democracy where
Sanskrit as well as Mongolia, an important country for Buddhism was said to have made India and Mongolia
the purpose of strategic encirclement of China, where “spiritual neighbors”. Modi was the first Indian Prime
rulers, even during present times, would rather have Minister to ever visit Mongolia and acclaimed it as the
their names written in Sanskrit than in their own “new bright light of democracy” thereby differentiating
language (De Silva, 2015). India and Mongolia from China. These efforts, coupled
Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj addressed a with Modi’s $1 billion aid package to Mongolia served as
June 2015 Sanskrit Conference in Bangkok and stressed the a measure to strategically encircle China as China was
importance of mastering Sanskrit to solve some of the doing to India by helping Nepal and Pakistan
biggest problems plaguing the world today such as poverty, economically in return for greater influence in those
global warming and terrorism (Pant, 2015). By terming the countries.
language as “modern and universal”, Swaraj announced ECONOMIC AID
Modi government’s plans to propagate the ancient language India is gradually emerging as a major foreign aid donor
globally by means of a $20,000 International Sanskrit country. In 2011, India spent over $1.5 billion in foreign
Award to scholars contributing significantly to the aid, overtaken only by China among developing country
language. Following in the footsteps of yoga and Sanskrit, donors, even though it remains a major aid recipient
India decided to sponsor an “International Conference of (Mullen et al. 2012). In the 1950s, India’s financial
Zero” and gifted a bronze bust of Aryabhata to the UNESCO condition only permitted it to give in-kind aid such as
technical assistance to its smaller neighbors like helping

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Bhutan build its hydroelectric facilities through Modi has more or less followed the aid policies formulated
knowledge transfer. However, India is now able to make by the administrations since the 1990s. His Afghanistan
cash transfers, not only to countries in its immediate policy especially depicts more continuity with Manmohan
neighborhood like Bhutan and Nepal, but to a much larger Singh’s approach than differences. In September 2016, he
variety of recipients such as African countries. India has offered $1 billion to Afghanistan for nation building
kept aside $1.6 billion as foreign aid for the year 2015- (Busvine and Kumar, 2016). Stability of Afghanistan and
2016 and is creating its own foreign aid agency named the minimal Pakistani influence in the “Graveyard of Empires” is
India Agency for Partnership in Development (IAPD) critical to India’s security and feeds into Modi government’s
which would be able to spend an estimated $11.3 billion regional security pillar of Panchamrit. Nevertheless, Sharma
in the next 5-7 years (Know Everything About How Much (2015) shows that Modi’s aid packages are bigger than the
India, 2015). ones offered in previous years, in terms of amount and
India has historically allotted 63% of its foreign aid scope. For example, during the April 2015 Nepal
budget to Bhutan primarily to support the latter’s Earthquake, the Modi administration injected $67 million in
hydropower sector which would in turn consolidate Nepal during Operation Maitri (biggest disaster relief
India’s regional power status (Know Everything About assistance till date) and promised to give approximately 15
How Much India, 2015). The second largest recipient of % worth of the reconstruction costs. Also, a $2 billion line of
Indian aid is Afghanistan, where India has played an credit was offered to Bangladesh which happens to be the
important role in big infrastructure projects, followed by largest financial assistance by India to another country.
Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives and Moreover, during Modi’s Vietnam visit, he presented $500
African countries (Know Everything About How Much million defence line of credit (LoC) to the host nation which
India, 2015). Africa and Afghanistan are two very is the biggest amount of defence LoC India had ever given
strategic reasons for aid disbursement, serving ulterior out ( Mitra, 2016).
geopolitical motives vis-à-vis Pakistan and China BOLLYWOOD
respectively. In Africa, India and China are both intensely Bollywood has been one of India’s biggest cultural
competing for African energy supplies, especially crude exports from Africa to the Middle East and East Asia.
oil, to satisfy their yawning energy appetites. However, the Indian government very rarely uses
Consequently, taking into account the continent’s Bollywood as an official soft power tool in its foreign
usefulness as an energy reservoir, generous aid packages policy. This might actually prove to be beneficial since as
are earmarked for Africa. Nye remarked, in today’s world, the best kind of
Turning to Afghanistan, India has always enjoyed a propaganda comes from things which are not meant to be
cordial relationship with the country, partly due to the propaganda, thereby increasing their credibility.
popularity of Bollywood movies in Afghanistan as well as Afghanistan is perhaps the country where the craze for
the fact that ex President Karzai spent his student days in Bollywood movies has indirectly acted as a catalyst for a
Shimla. Subsequently, India’s strategy in Afghanistan closer and warmer Indo-Afghan bond. When NATO
differs from that of Pakistan who uses coercive tactics ousted the Talibans in Afghanistan, one of the first things
such as Taliban mercenaries to retain control. On the local people did was to fish out their hidden collections of
other hand, India has heavily invested in Afghan Bollywood songs. Mir (2007) gives another example- the
infrastructure building, such as highways, hospitals, fact that contestants sing Hindi songs at the American
electricity projects as well as institution building (law inspired Afghan Idol musical contest, even though they
enforcement, judiciary, Kabul Parliament) (Qureshi, are only allowed to sing Afghan songs. He further explains
2014).Indian companies, especially its steel and mining that much to the dislike of Pakistani madrassas, young
companies, have largely benefitted from such Afghans are much more interested in learning about the
involvement with the latter having won the mining rights lives of Bollywood stars instead of focusing on religious
to Afghanistan’s most abundant iron ore deposit field learning. In fact, all Afghan television channels broadcast
(Mullen et al. 2012). From the Indian perspective, the Bollywood movies and Indian television serials and some
choice of an economic intervention instead of a military men even plead in front of imams to adapt the evening
one has helped it gain a lot of goodwill and has kept prayer schedule according to the Indian television serial
Pakistan at an arm’s length. schedule. Recognizing the overwhelming popularity of

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Bollywood movies, in 2007, the United States had policy. For instance, as Aneja (2015) reports, three days
requested India to send some Bollywood stars to before Modi’s arrival in Xian, Bollywood star Aamir Khan
Afghanistan to speak about urgent social issues (Qureshi, reached China for the very first time to promote his film
2014). PK. His previous movie 3 Idiots was very well received in
Even India’s traditional rival, Pakistan, is smitten by the China, especially by Chinese youth. The timing of his
charm of Bollywood movies. In spite of a long official ban arrival implied that he was meant to prepare the Chinese
on Bollywood movies which was lifted in 2008, Pakistanis public for Modi’s visit and to some extent, ensure that the
still managed to watch pirated copies of Indian movies. Prime Minister got a warm welcome. Furthermore, to
Another landmark development was the release of the reinforce Sino-Indian cultural bonding, a film on the life
classic movie Sholay in Pakistan on March 23, 2015 in of Xuanzang was jointly produced by India’s Eros group
theatres, forty years after its release in India (Soft Power and China Film Group – Modi signed the MoU in Shanghai
of Bollywood, 2015). Despite this time lag, movie theatres to approve of this film production which had a star cast
were fully booked, vouching for Sholay’s runaway success from both countries. In addition, Kung Fu Yoga is another
in Pakistan. The year 2015 was also the year when a jointly produced, cross-cultural and multilingual movie
Bollywood movie succeeded in influencing political with shooting having taken place in both countries.
decisions in Pakistan. The 2015 movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan Besides, the Indian government has had a fetish for
where a kind Indian man helps a mute Pakistani girl Bollywood stars when it came to choosing the brand
return home, overcoming multiple obstacles, prompted ambassador of its main tourism campaign, “Incredible
the Pakistani government to let Geeta, a deaf and mute India”. While Aamir Khan served as the campaign’s brand
Indian girl, stranded in Pakistan for thirteen years finally ambassador since its inception, in an unprecedented step,
return to India and be reunited with her family (Pillai, the Indian government directly appointed Bollywood
2015). Therefore, Bollywood movies strengthen people- megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra as
to-people connect in the neighboring countries, even Aamir Khan’s successors in 2016. The choice of
though it is not a conscious move by the Indian Bollywood stars is an excellent marketing move as these
government. Similarly, in Myanmar, according to the local are faces widely recognized in almost every corner of the
people, Indo-Burmese relations revolve around 5 B’s globe and might subsequently attract a large number of
namely Buddhism, Business, Bollywood, Bharatnatyam tourists to the country.
and Burma teak, and Bollywood movies are a roaring THE MODI BRAND
success (India-Myanmar Ties, 2015). Compared to his predecessor, Modi is a stark contrast,
Apart from Asia and Africa, Bollywood movies are making personality wise. While Manmohan Singh was seen as a
their mark in many East European countries like Poland shy, timid albeit dignified Prime Minister with no voice of
and Lithuania as well as in Russia where Indian movie stars his own and a “puppet” in the hands of his own political
like Arjun Rampal feature in television commercials. The party, Modi is seen as a proactive and bold political leader
“King of Bollywood”, Shah Rukh Khan, is extremely popular who stands his own ground and believes that India is
in Poland where there have been a number of Shah Rukh second to none on the global stage. He has made efforts to
Khan movie festivals (Bhutani, 2015). These factors could cultivate people-to-people ties, as can be seen from his
give the Indian government some much needed diplomatic decision to visit Xi Jinping’s hometown and invite him to
leeway in its interactions with East Europe and some small his hometown as well. Another instrument he’s wielding
Asian countries captivated by the magic of Bollywood. At is digital diplomacy. Martin (2015) demonstrates some of
the same time, it should be noted that compared to Modi’s successful public relations efforts. Modi’s Twitter
Hollywood’s overarching influence, Bollywood’s influence has around 9.5 million followers and he has skillfully used
remains limited. While Hollywood embodied the idea of a this platform to demonstrate his close friendship with
better life through consumerism and progress and sold the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as extend a
idea of America to the world, Bollywood remains at the public invitation to President Obama for India’s Republic
“fantastic” level, serving more as an entertainment option Day Celebrations in 2015. Modi’s surprise visit in Lahore
instead of sending across a powerful cultural message. on the occasion of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s birthday
It would be wrong to say that there has been no strategic further supports Modi’s personal relationship approach.
use of Bollywood in the Indian government’s foreign These efforts are all ultimately directed at fostering

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stronger bilateral ties which would translate into Institutes. Bollywood, India’s prized cultural export is
commercial or strategic benefits for India. much smaller than the Hollywood industry, both in size
Furthermore, in line with the previous governments’ and scope for influence. Secondly, India has tended to
diaspora outreach initiatives such as the Pravasi substitute hard power with soft power without realizing
Bharatiya Diwas introduced by Vajpayee in 2002, Modi that both are complements to one another. Modi has
similarly recognizes the untapped potential of India’s perhaps been the Prime Minister who has worked towards
large diaspora network (approximately 25 million this goal most diligently; while on one hand, he is flaunting
people) and has put in tremendous effort to connect with and institutionalizing soft power to further foreign policy,
them. For example, during his 2014 Madison Square he is simultaneously matching this with steps to increase
Garden rally in New York City, he called on the Indian hard power capability, recognizing the need for a strong
Americans who happen to be financially well off to team and respected military force, thereby coming close to the
up, participate in India’s growth process and serve concept of smart power. Finally, India is fraught with
Mother India. He similarly called on Indians in Japan and internal tensions such as religious conflicts, gender based
Australia to do the same. Another striking feature about violence, poverty, ethnic violence among others. These
Modi is his choice of communicating in Hindi. By choosing internal problems prevent the leadership from developing
vernacular over English, unlike other rival politicians a coherent and consistent soft power strategy.
often seen to be pandering to English, he has succeeded Modi must also be careful so as not to get too carried away
in increasing his Indianness quotient and in reaffirming by his soft power emphasis such that it turns farcical or
India’s great power status where it makes its own rules loses credibility, for example, in one of his speeches, he
instead of playing by other countries’ rules. In doing so, stated that Lord Ganesha proves that Indians practiced
he seems to be taking a cue from Chinese leaders who also plastic surgery in ancient times (Martin, 2015). There is
converse only in Chinese. also mounting pressure from Hindutva groups to add a
LIMITATIONS OF INDIAN SOFT POWER religious touch to yoga or to “take back” yoga which
According to Portland’s Soft Power 30, India is not among would undermine New Delhi’s appropriation of yoga as a
the top 30 countries that excel in soft power capabilities soft power tool.
while China barely makes it to the list, ranked at 30 (The CONCLUSION
Soft Power 30, n.d.). Since Modi’s efforts are fairly recent, This paper has examined the use of soft power by the
their implications may take some time to get reflected. Modi Administration in foreign policy. The four principal
India is, by curse of geography, in an extremely turbulent aspects of soft power used by Modi are ancient heritage
region with a majority of its neighbors regarding it with and civilizational links, democracy, Bollywood and
suspicion and hostility. As per a 2012 study, Pakistan and economic aid. It is also important to note that Modi is
Nepal find India overbearing whereas Bangladesh and Sri using his personal charisma as a crucial albeit small
Lanka have problems trusting India. India’s soft power source of soft power to gain influence in countries. Modi’s
also seems to have limited geographical outreach beyond government is still in the nascent stages of making India
Asia. This is primarily illustrated by the fact that most a soft power powerhouse but as compared to the
foreign students studying in India come from the Middle previous governments, Modi has certainly been more
East and neighboring South Asian countries and that it successful in institutionalizing and developing a more
does not score as well as one would expect even on the consistent and strategic soft power approach.
tourism front (one of the major causes behind this is New
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