Swadeshi, Shields and Strategy: Reflections on a Moment of Self‑Reliance

I watch small things — a single shopkeeper replacing an imported label with a ‘Made in India’ tag, an MP rehearsing how to describe a GST relief to a trader, an RSS leader reminding an audience to value indigenous industry — and I sense a seam in the national mood being stitched together: resilience.

The last week has been a concentrated lesson in how policy, symbolism and geopolitics mingle. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exhortation to NDA MPs to organise “Swadeshi Mela” and to take the message of GST rate cuts to the people is one clear public nudge toward domestic manufacturing and consumption PM Modi asks NDA MPs to hold 'Swadeshi Mela' to boost self-reliance. The same message, in parallel grooves, was picked up in a few other outlets that recorded his plea to make swadeshi a visible, routine thread in political life PM Modi asks NDA MPs to organise ‘Swadeshi Mela’ and in briefings noted by trade‑focused outlets PM Modi asks NDA MPs to hold 'Swadeshi Mela'.

At the same time, the international weather grew harsher: former President Trump’s decision to levy steep tariffs on Indian products—reported and discussed widely—has undeniably sharpened the calculus at home and abroad (coverage in outlets such as Rediff and broader analysis in Outlook). That external pressure reframes domestic gestures. A Swadeshi Mela is not only a market but a message: we can make, we can buy, and we will not be passive when global rules shift.

Parallel to the political push, Mohan Bhagwat — the RSS chief — has been articulating complementary ideas: a revived pitch for swadeshi, a reassertion of the need for trade to be voluntary, comments about social issues and family policy, and a clarification that the ‘75-year’ retirement talk was not a hard ceiling Trade should be voluntary, says RSS chief Bhagwat, pitches ‘swadeshi’ amid India-US tariff tensions. These are not isolated utterances; they are cultural and political vectors that move public sentiment and legitimacy alongside policy.

I find the timing instructive. We are close to a vice‑presidential ballot and in the heart of a festival season — a setting where symbolic politics has a genuine, measurable economic ripple (as MPs were asked to leverage GST cuts during Navratri and Diwali) PM Modi asks NDA MPs to hold 'Swadeshi Mela' to boost self-reliance. Politics leverages ritual seasons; markets convert sentiment into demand. A leader can nudge an economy by converting festivals into opportunities to shift purchase preferences.

That said, I keep returning to a tension at the heart of this moment: self‑reliance versus strategic interdependence. Economies do not operate in vacuum. Tariffs hurt certain exporters and sectors; they also accelerate conversations about supply‑chain diversification and industrial policy. Calling for swadeshi is a legitimate strategic pivot — but if the goal is to build durable manufacturing capacity, it requires more than bazaars and exhortations. It needs capital, skills, reliable logistics, a regulatory climate that attracts sophisticated manufacturing projects, and patience.

We have signals that the machinery is moving — GST changes, trade diplomacy dances with partners like Russia and China, and domestic campaigns to ‘adopt swadeshi’ are being amplified by civil society and institutional actors India, EU Push Forward In FTA Talks Amid Global Trade Tensions. But I worry about two easy traps:

• The rhetorical trap: where swadeshi becomes a virtue word without translating into policies that upgrade manufacturing — higher value addition, research and development, quality standards and export competitiveness.
• The political trap: where economic choices are framed purely as identity acts, risking alienation of partners and consumers who benefit from open trade.

Philosophically, I am drawn to the idea of resilience as the higher goal. A resilient nation is not hermetic; it is adaptive. It builds buffers — diverse suppliers, deeper capital markets, stronger local producers — so shocks hurt less and recoveries are faster. Swadeshi, when seen through this lens, is not xenophobic retreat but strategic capability building. It is an investment in sovereignty that acknowledges interdependence.

So when I read about MPs rehearsing single‑transferable‑vote procedures one day and organising trader sammelans the next, I sense something practical beneath the pageantry: political actors are trying to align narrative, law and ground action PM Modi asks NDA MPs to hold Swadeshi Mela; mock poll guidance noted. Whether that alignment becomes institutional momentum or transient theatre will depend on follow‑through.

I do not romanticise the local at the expense of the modern. My hope is that these swadeshi gestures become scaffolding for higher ambitions: engineering centres, export‑oriented clusters, procurement policies that favour quality domestic suppliers, and trade diplomacy that turns competition into leverage rather than confrontation.

In the end, the question I keep asking myself as an observer — and as someone who thinks about legacy and systems that outlast individuals — is not whether swadeshi is a political win today. It is whether, five years from now, India will have used this moment to deepen capabilities so that the next external jolt finds us not improvising, but delivering. That is the work of architects and the patience of gardeners.

---

Regards,
Hemen Parekh