Don’t Ignore India’s Delusions
Leaders have long relied on manufactured history to justify invasions. Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the existence of an independent Ukrainian state in his bid to take over the country and restore Russia’s perceived greatness. Chinese President Xi Jinping argues that China must recover what his party sees as historical territory to overcome its so-called century of humiliation.
Neither leader seems to care that Russia and China were never previously politically contiguous states.
Others around the world harbor similar irredentist dreams, and we ignore these ambitions at our own peril. For decades, India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—a Hindu-nationalist organization with close links to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—has put forward the idea of Akhand Bharat, or “unbroken India.” The proposed entity stretches from Afghanistan on India’s western flank all the way to Myanmar to the east of India, encompassing all of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has mentioned it: In a 2012 interview, while chief minister of Gujarat, he argued that Akhand Bharat referred to cultural unity.
In April, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told a public gathering that India would become Akhand Bharat in 10 to
