Hindutva and Modi’s India: The Makings of a Superpower?
An online panel discussion with Dr Sripad Motiram, Professor Kate Sullivan De Estrada and Javed Gaya. Guest moderated by Neha Dixit.
21 January 2026 14.00 GMT
From our series Power, Legitimacy and Influence: the Future of Asia
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This panel discussion is part of our series Power, Legitimacy and Influence: the Future of Asia. The series is exploring six long-standing regimes in Asia that have had and continue to have a huge influence outside their own borders, shaping the region and its trajectory. It considers their leadership, the sources of their legitimacy and their guiding doctrine in order to gain an insight into what the future of Asia might look like.
In the third event of this series, we will examine India and the influence that Narendra Modi’s rise to power has had on the vast South Asian powerhouse. The panel will discuss the role of Hindu nationalism, pushed forward by the political dominance of the BJP, on India’s politics and economy as well as its place in the world. It will consider how Modi’s approach to the US, China and Pakistan is helping or hindering its position and whether India has the potential to become a superpower of the future.
Dr Sripad Motiram is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston, whose work spans development economics, welfare economics, microeconomics, and political economy. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Southern California and has previously held appointments at UC Berkeley, Dalhousie University, and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. His research explores themes including urbanisation in developing countries, inequality, poverty and the political economy of India.
Professor Kate Sullivan de Estrada is Associate Professor in the International Relations of South Asia at the University of Oxford and Director of the Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme. Her research explores how rising powers – especially India – seek status in world politics, focusing on identity, nuclear politics in South Asia, India’s Indo-Pacific strategy, and Indian Ocean security. She has engaged in policy work including a secondment as Principal Research Analyst for India at the UK FCDO, and has given testimony to UK parliamentary inquiries on UK–India relations.
Javed Gaya is a lawyer based in Mumbai, specialising in commercial arbitration law. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and has taught law at colleges affiliated with the University of Mumbai. He contributes to publications on constitutional law, history, and foreign affairs, and writes book reviews. His new book, Majoritarianism in India, investigates the origins and consequences of India’s increasingly majoritarian system, assessing the frailty of constitutional safeguards, the role of the judiciary, and the subversion of federalism. He analyses the futility of today’s quest for cultural purity and interrogates the myths sustaining this ideology.
Moderator
Neha Dixit is an award-winning investigative journalist and author based in New Delhi, whose work examines politics, gender, and social justice across South Asia. A former Tehelka and India Today reporter, she now writes independently for outlets including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and The Wire, uncovering human rights abuses and systemic inequality. Her courageous reporting has earned numerous honors, including the Chameli Devi Jain Award and the CPJ International Press Freedom Award. Her 2024 nonfiction debut, The Many Lives of Syeda X, blends biography with sharp political commentary.
