Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Clifton D’Rozario speaks to Green Left’s Federico Fuentes about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role as a global far-right leader and the impact of United States-China tensions on South Asian politics and struggles.
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How do you view the current dynamics within global imperialism?
The US-led imperialist core, despite its military debacles, continues expanding its clout though covert and overt operations and alliances across the world.
But current dynamics point to a multidimensional global crisis and a transition within global power structures, with traditional Western dominance being challenged by rising powers. This creates a more complex and competitive international landscape in terms of domination of weaker nations.
Regardless of the internal character of competing global powers, a multipolar world is more advantageous for progressive forces and movements seeking to reverse neoliberal policies and advance social and political transformations.
Inter-imperialist rivalries in the early 20th century not only produced World War I but facilitated the Russian revolution, which snapped the imperialist chain at its weakest link.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US has sought to unite liberal democracies from the Global North (such as Britain, Germany and Australia) in the name of defeating autocracies and totalitarian regimes, including by military means.
But the US always uses these claims in justifying endless wars, brutal occupations and coups (including against elected governments).
Israel’s genocide in Gaza, aided and abetted by “liberal democracies” and “authoritarian regimes” such as India, further exposes the fallacy of this argument.
Yet the space being opened by this emerging unstable “multipolar world” has largely been filled by authoritarian regimes such as Modi’s. What role does Modi play in regional and global politics? More generally, what threat does the global far right pose today?
We stand at a critical moment in history. Fascism is on the rise globally. This is a direct result of increasing contradictions in the international capitalist system and the tragic destruction caused by neoliberalism.
This global crisis of capitalism — which is also a climate crisis — has led to deep insecurity and deprivation, creating fertile ground for fascist and authoritarian forces. These forces blame minorities and immigrants for inequality and insecurity, rather than neoliberal policies.
In power, their regimes have been characterised by: organised racial and/or communal violence by fascist groups; attacks on dissent, civil liberties and freedom of speech; intensified anti-feminist politics and assaults on women’s and LGBTI rights; the use of fake news to whip up hatred and prejudice; and personality cults and centralisation of power in a single powerful leader.
The ideologies of most of these right-wing regimes are rooted in racial supremacy, religious politicisation and the construction of the nation on a singular identity.
Unsurprisingly, there is ongoing collaboration between right-wing regimes. But these same regimes are being legitimated by the international order.
It is worth remembering that for a long period after the 2002 Gujarat genocide, Modi, who was Gujarat state Chief Minister at the time, was denied a visa by several Western countries, including the US and Britain.
But given right-wing authoritarianism’s growing ascendancy in global politics, Modi, as prime minister, now receives strong support from the West.
This too is an undeniable reality of the emerging multipolar world.
Modi has played his role in all this, given Indian fascism has perhaps been in power longer than any similar regime in the world today.
Modi has sought domestic and global support by combining Hindu supremacist hyper-nationalism with a pro-US foreign policy. His aim is to leverage global attention for the Indian market, deepen corporate India’s integration with global capital, and secure India’s strategic role as a close ally of the US and Israel.
Under Modi, India’s strategic subservience to US global hegemony has greatly increased. His lack of support for Palestine, even in the face of genocide, is a product of his regime’s growing strategic partnership with Israel.
Modi portrays a measure of autonomy from the US-led West by being part of BRICS [the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa alliance] and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, where India shares a platform with Russia and China. But the real direction of Modi’s foreign policy is the opposite.
Modi’s refusal to condemn [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s unjust war on Ukraine is due to India’s dependence on Russia, which is India’s largest weapons supplier and a major energy source.
What is behind US military strategy in the region? What role has Modi played in this?
China’s rise as a major economic powerhouse has seen the US-led imperialist bloc search for new avenues to counter China.
In this context, India has stepped up military relations with the US, becoming a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) alongside Japan and Australia. The Quad forms part of the US’ regional military alliances aimed at countering China in the Indo-Pacific region.
It is also an attempt to deploy US military personnel and assets in India against China. We condemn India’s involvement in the Quad, which goes against the sovereign interests of the country.
The growing identification between India’s foreign policy and US strategic priorities has led to a worsening of India’s relations with, and growing isolation from, almost all its neighbours.
The recent past has seen border clashes between China and India, with reports of Chinese incursions into areas under Indian control. Modi has refused to come clean about the actual state of affairs in the border region, preferring to step up anti-China rhetoric for domestic political calculations, even as imports from China reach record highs and India’s trade deficit surges.
More generally, India’s regional hegemonic ambitions, growing promotion of Indian corporate interests in the region, and attempts to define Indian nationalism in Hindu supremacist terms have created deepening mistrust and tension in South Asia.
Hindutva’s [Hindu nationalism's] transnational spatial ambition, with its claims on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka as parts of its strategic vision of Akhand Bharat (Undivided India), has further complicated matters.
All this has greatly set back prospects for regional cooperation and friendly ties with neighbours.
How have global and regional dynamics impacted politics in India?
Over the past decade, Modi’s reference to India as the vishwaguru (spiritual mentor to the world) has become an overused figure of speech. Also repeated ad nauseam is the refrain that Modi’s reign has heralded a major change in India’s image abroad, with the country emerging as a true global leader.
The hollowness of this claim is apparent, given the abject poverty facing most Indians on account of Modi’s neoliberal economic measures and disastrous policy prescriptions, such as demonetisation, COVID lockdowns and imposing a GST [goods and services tax].
Even so, this discourse has found a willing audience among India’s aspirational middle class and social and economic elites, who seek equal status with their counterparts from the Global North.
It has also found an audience among the diaspora, which for decades has been a focus of indoctrination and mobilisation by the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, of which Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is a political front].
This was particularly the case in the US and Britain, but is now true for most Global North nations with a significant Indian diaspora population. This has led to the formation of various supremacist organisations abroad, such as the Hindu American Foundation and Overseas Friends of the BJP, among others.
These organisations play an instrumental role in whitewashing Modi’s divisive ideology by organising huge rallies involving elements of the local political establishment.
An example was an event in Sydney in 2023, where Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese heaped praise on Modi, likening him to US rockstar Bruce Springsteen in his cringe-worthy introductory speech.
Such support from abroad and legitimacy from world leaders is crucial for Modi, given his deeply divisive, oppressive and controversial ideology and policies.
[Abridged and edited from a longer interview published at links.org.au.]