Research On How Hindu Nationalism Shapes The Modi Government’s Neighborhood Diplomacy

In May 2019,the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)won 303 of the 543 seats in the general election,and Modi began his second term with a "landslide" victory,further cementing Hindu nationalism as the mainstream ideology in India.The Hindu Nationalism agenda has shaped India’s domestic and foreign,and Modi’s government has attracted attention for its bolder and more adventurous Nationalism tone in international dealings than previous governments.Hindu nationalism has shaped the internal affairs and foreign of Modi government by placing the basis of national identity above Hindu identity,combining national identity with Hindu identity,and reinterpreting and integrating national interests and national interests with Hindu culture.The surging Hindu Nationalism sentiment in Indian society spills over to the level of national diplomacy,which coincides with India’s long-standing "great power dream".South Asia has become the strategic basis for Modi government to pursue its great power vision.The Modi government has elevated "neighbors first" to the top of India’s diplomatic agenda,and neighborhood diplomacy has become the focus of India’s diplomacy in the Modi era.Based on the existing research results,this paper takes the Modi government’s neighborhood diplomacy as the research object and selects nationalism as the analysis perspective,aiming to answer two questions: first,what is the particularity of Hindu nationalism from the perspective of nationalism;Second,how Hindu nationalism has shaped the Modi government’s foreign policy.This paper first establishes a theoretical framework to analyze the relationship between nationalism and foreign policy,in order to expound the influence and shaping mechanism between nationalism and foreign policy.Secondly,it traces back the ideological system and organizational development of Hindu nationalism,and summarizes its connotation,manifestation and characteristics.Based on the analysis of the shaping power of Hindu nationalism on the neighborhood diplomacy of Modi government,this paper discusses how the domestic political and economic agenda of Modi government spills over to the neighborhood diplomacy.After that,by elaborating the evolution of Modi’s neighborhood diplomacy during his two terms of office and comparing it with the Congress government’s neighborhood diplomacy,the paper summarizes the characteristics of Modi government’s neighborhood diplomacy.Finally,it concretely analyzes the diplomatic thought and practice of Modi government on Pakistan,Nepal and China,and further demonstrates the shaping effect of Hindu nationalism on Modi government’s peripheral diplomacy.From the perspective of nationalism,this paper finds that the rise of Hindu nationalism solves the dilemma that secular nationalism cannot maintain the Indian national identity,and realizes the national construction of current India by using the way of distinguishing "self" and "other" in Hindu nationalism.Different from the original nationalism in the west,the national identity of Hindu nationalism is based on religion,and all people who regard "Hindustan" as their ancestral land are included in the scope of the Indian nation.This particularity makes Hindu nationalism need to constantly find and strengthen the bond that can unite the "Hindu nation".When necessary,the Modi government resorted to building "others" or even "enemies".This is one of the reasons why the Modi government attaches great importance to neighborhood diplomacy.In the future,Hindu nationalism’s demand for "the other" will not disappear,and even with the development of internal contradictions in India,this demand will be more intense and may take on more forms in the way of coping.