A series of events on the international stage has blown the Modi mythology of ‘India First’ and hyper-nationalistic rhetoric of the ruling BJP/RSS to smithereens. It has now become clear that the Modi government is bending over backwards to fulfil the demands of US on a whole range of policy issues, to the detriment of Indian people. The latest, and perhaps the most shameful, episode in this saga is the announcement by various Trump administration officials that India has been ‘allowed’ to buy Russian oil for 30 days.

The letter and spirit of Trump administration were unambiguous. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a TV interview on March 6, “Yesterday, the Treasury agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that was already on the water.”  He went on to add, “The Indians had been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall. They did. They were going to substitute it with US oil. But to ease the temporary gap of oil around the world, we have given them permission to accept the Russian oil.” 

Elaborating on this, the US Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted on X, “We have implemented short term measures to help keep oil prices down. We are allowing our friends in India to take oil that is already on ships, refine it, and move those barrels into the market quickly. A practical way to get supply flowing and ease pressure.”

This ‘concession’ by Big Brother US was not to help India but to allow Indian refiners (mainly Reliance Industries) to process the crude oil and release it in the global market so that supply is maintained and prices don’t shoot up too much due to the attack on Iran. Incidentally, the Russian crude oil diverted to India was headed to China. So, it was killing many birds with one stone.

Readers will recall that US had pressurised India last year to stop buying Russian crude oil on the pretext that Russia is using oil revenues for the ongoing war in Ukraine. As part of this arm twisting, US had imposed 50 per cent tariffs on imports from India, of which half was ‘Russian oil penalty’.  There had been much huffing and puffing by Indian government but nothing more. Over the next few months, Russian oil imports had decreased, and US oil imports increased. In February this year, a trade deal was struck between India and US in which the Modi government agreed to purchase USD 500 billion worth of US goods (including oil and gas) over the next few years in exchange for the tariffs getting reduced to 18 per cent. This was as clear a case of surrender to arm twisting as any.

Servile Surrender

There are several other instances of the Modi government cosying up with US in recent weeks. Modi visited Israel and pledged his full-fledged support to the Zionist cause, drawing fulsome praise from Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, who is under criminal investigation in the country he leads, and who has led Israel into the barbaric genocide in Gaza and the subsequent attacks on Iran and Lebanon. Modi’s actions were a clear break from India’s historical record of opposition to Israeli militarism and racism, and support to the Palestinian liberation struggle. Under Modi’s leadership, we saw the shameful spectacle of India remaining silent after the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual leader and head of state, by US-Israeli air strikes. This was a tacit endorsement of the US position that the Ayatollah was a terrorist leader and his death a welcome event. It was only after several days had passed that, facing a backlash in India, the Modi government took the symbolic step of deputing the foreign secretary to visit the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi to sign the condolence book. On March 4, a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian ship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing 87 crew members. The ship was returning from Vishakhapatnam where it had been part of the Indian naval exercises ‘MILAN’ organised by Indian Navy’s Eastern Command. The Modi government maintained a deathly silence on this flagrantly illegal act, right in India’s backyard, even though the ship had been invited as a guest by India itself.

Roots of Servility

These acts of the Modi government have exposed the deeply entrenched roots of BJP/RSS in cowardly subservience to imperialism. Also revealed is the hollowness of their claim to ‘nationalism’ and various sutras like ‘vasudhaiv kutumbakam’ or the ambition to be ‘vishwa guru’. Readers will recall that one of the most revered icons of the RSS, VD Savarkar, cravenly apologised to the British while seeking release from the Andaman’s Cellular Jail, back in 1911 and 1920. While the rest of the country was gearing up and fighting the British colonial rulers, Savarkar offered his services to the British Crown. The RSS itself, set up in 1925, kept aloof from the freedom struggle, and devoted itself to ‘uniting’ and ‘reawakening’ the Hindu community. It became most active during incidents of communal tensions, otherwise trying to spread its tentacles through social work. It was implicated in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 and banned by the then home minister Sardar Patel.

Interestingly, MS Golwalkar, the second sarsanghchalak (supremo) of the RSS and its main ideologue, openly applauded the Nazi Party’s brutal pogroms against Jews in Germany, calling it “race pride at its highest” in his book We, Or Our Nationhood Defined, published first in 1939. He goes on to write, “Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and Cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.” Here we find the racist roots of RSS’ toxic ideology. Their hostility towards Muslims is parallel to that of the Nazis towards the Jews.

The servility to foreign ideas was so complete that the RSS even borrowed their uniform – khaki shorts, white shirts and black caps – from the Italian Fascists, after another leader Moonje visited Italy and met Benito Mussolini.

Ties With Big Capital

The RSS has maintained deep links with the US rightwing through its various frontal organisations in the diaspora. It has 107 frontal organisations working in the US, and another 27 in the UK. Many of these are fund raising charities that collect money and funnel it to RSS fronts in India.

The commitment of BJP/RSS to interests of imperialism goes hand in hand with its aggressive policy of acting as an agent of India’s big capitalists. The interests of this class lie in reduction of government intervention in welfare measures, increased privatisation of public assets, reduced taxes for corporates, a freer hand to hire and fire workers and keep them in virtual slavery, takeover of India’s vast agricultural sector, etc. The BJP government has been putting in place precisely these policies to serve the interests of big capital, both domestic and foreign.

This complete concord and alignment of the BJP/RSS with domestic and foreign capital – barring some cases where mutual contradictions may emerge and need negotiation – is naturally extended to foreign policy too, facilitated by the RSS’ own ideological subservience to imperialist needs.

Writing on the Wall

The BJP/RSS has used its Hindu fanatic ideology to mobilise a section of people in the country in its support. This has led to its being in power for the last 12 years. However, its seemingly invincible hold is crumbling because not only are its economic policies causing severe hardship and discontent among people but also because the veneer of hyper-nationalism, muscular militarism and international appreciation is wearing thin. Time and again, Modi and his government are being humiliated and snubbed by the very Western leaders, especially from US, that the prime minister hugs with great gusto during staged photo-ops. Even in the case of Operation Sindoor, Trump has repeatedly claimed that it was his intervention that forced India and Pakistan to stop hostilities. Modi and his ministers are seen as vassals, always trying to please their masters. In India, with a proud history of taking on Western oppressors of all ilk, this does not go down well. The writing is on the wall.