Ram Madhav Photo: Facebook / Ram Madhav
India sees value in improving ties with New Zealand as the South Asian nation looks to expand its influence in the South Pacific, says former national general secretary of India's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party Ram Madhav.
Speaking on a whistle-stop visit to New Zealand earlier this week, Madhav highlighted a bilateral willingness between the two countries to improve relations in recent times but noted that discussions had only just begun.
"[For relations to improve], we need to have a lot more contact at the political leadership level," Madhav said. "The trade minister of New Zealand [Todd McClay] came to India just before Christmas. ... Clearly New Zealand has taken a lead. The Indian government will respond with reciprocal visits, but we have to understand the process is just starting."
Madhav, head of New Delhi-based think tank India Foundation, visited members of the Indian community in New Zealand after attending the group's annual Indian Ocean Conference in Perth.
Madhav is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's national executive, the highest decision-making body of the organisation.
RSS, which describes itself as a social and cultural organisation, is well known for its Hindu nationalist views.
RSS is widely regarded as the ideological parent organisation of the BJP.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998-2004) and incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP have both been members of the organisation.
Pacific interests
Madhav said the Pacific region was important to India's wider geopolitical ambitions.
"India believes in a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, which is an increasingly important region for us," he said. "That's why we are in the Quad [a security pact between Australia, India, Japan and the United States]. We are also focussing on the Indian Ocean region comprising of 36 countries, which is a zone of peace, and where we aim to lead the Global South towards mutual prosperity.
"Considering New Zealand's influence over the Pacific, we believe the two countries can help each other in strengthening ties in the region."
Madhav's remarks follow similar statements that have come out of New Delhi, a view backed up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a Cabinet paper released before Christmas.
"It is in our interest to support India to engage as a constructive partner in the region and to work through existing regional architecture," the paper said.
Indian elections
As national general secretary of the BJP from 2014 to 2020, Madhav is believed to have been a key part of the party's commanding election victory in 2019.
The BJP-led alliance won 353 of the 543 Lower House seats that were contested, with the party itself winning 303.
While dates for the upcoming vote have yet to be announced, general elections in India are typically held in April and May.
Madhav was confident the BJP would win the election with a larger majority than five years earlier, citing "India's rising global prominence, growing economy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal popularity" as the main reasons.
Critics of the Modi administration argue that India's social fabric has deteriorated since the prime minister came into power, with opposition figures such as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claiming minorities are being persecuted.
Madhav refutes such allegations.
"All such claims are grossly magnified," he said. "Even the widely publicised recent ... consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya had contributions from all sections of the society, including those from the minority faiths."
He said India's top court might help resolve other religious disputes in the same way it ruled on the Ram Temple, thinking about the Krishna Janmabhoomi and Kashi Vishwanath sites in Mathura and Varanasi in particular.
"It is important to note that the Ram Temple issue was amicably resolved by the Indian courts," he said. "A similar approach must be adopted for any other pending issues. Both the Hindu and the Muslim communities should first try to resolve the dispute by mutual discussions. If it doesn't work, people should take help of the Indian judicial system."
