New Delhi: In their article Inside India’s Powerful Hindu-Nationalist Movement for the Financial Times, Andres Schipani and Jyotsna Singh zoom in on the workings of the RSS, writing that the organisation is edging closer to achieving its goal of a “Hindu state”.
“Before the graduation ceremony, dressed in a pressed white kurta and sporting an orange bindi on his forehead, he [RSS chief Bhagwat] quipped as he exited the headquarters that the RSS’s ‘future looks good—strong”. He told The Organiser (RSS’s mouthpiece) in May that it will take just another quarter of a century “to unite the entire Hindu society, and take Bharat to the pinnacle of glory—and eventually, to extend this transformation to the whole world,” says the report.
Also in FT, John Reed and Krishn Kaushik report that about 2 months after its clash with Pakistan, India is delving into defence exports through homegrown companies like BrahMos, part of the country’s “make-in-India push”.
“Modi opened up the defence industry to the private sector after taking power in 2014. Adani is among the leading conglomerates with burgeoning defence arms, alongside Tata, Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro. Under joint venture and ‘offset’ arrangements with foreign producers intended by India to boost “indigenous” defence production, Tata makes Airbus C295 transport aircraft, fuselages for Apache helicopters with Boeing and the cabin for Sikorsky’s S-92 helicopter,” the article notes.
Donald Trump’s tariff threat aimed at BRICS nations for their “anti-American policies” fails to take note of an outlier: India, which has been “drawing closer” to the US and wants “to reduce China’s sway” in global affairs, reports Alex Travelli in The New York Times.
“India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is therefore in a position where he wants to avoid alienating his BRICS partners but cannot afford to say anything that irritates his American friends. His political opposition, led by the Congress party, is having a field day, dinging Mr Modi for not standing up to Mr Trump’s bullying,” the report says.
Meanwhile, China has begun construction on what will be the “world’s largest dam” on the “Yarlung Tsangpo”—sparking fear in India, reports BBC.
“Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu expressed concern that the Siang and Brahmaputra could ‘dry up considerably’ once the dam was completed,” the report says.
Khandu also added that the dam poses an “existential threat” to local tribes and communities, and that China could also use it as a “water bomb”.
In Mumbai, Gautam Adani’s redevelopment of Asia’s biggest slum in India’s most expensive city, is a project which seeks to “reshape Mumbai”. But even without it, Adani Realty is upping the ante, reports Advait Pulepu in Bloomberg.
“The slum redevelopment offers Adani the chance to define his legacy in his home nation, where his conglomerate has a bold slogan that translates into English as ‘we will deliver’. Adopted soon after short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the group of fraud, the promise of efficient execution—if realised—may help shore up investor confidence and bolster the brand as Adani lobbies Washington to drop criminal and civil charges over an alleged bribery scheme,” the report says.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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