The United States’ tariff war against India is not merely a question of numbers on customs receipts or export baskets; at its heart lies a larger debate over economic sovereignty. Incidentally, this is a theme that has resonated for decades with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is heading the coalition ruling at the Centre. The RSS-inspired organisations such as the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) have also been at the forefront of creating awareness about the importance of India’s economic sovereignty and how developed countries have tried to undermine it in the past.

Different Perspectives

At the core of this issue lies a difference in perspectives. The US and many other countries in the West view economic sovereignty through a prism very different from the Indian perspective.

Dattopant Thengadi, an RSS ideologue and founder of organisations like SJM, BMS, and BKS, explains this difference in his seminal work Third Way: “There (in the developed countries of the Western world) the goal was happiness for oneself; here it was happiness for all. It was a case of acquisitiveness vs aparigraha (non-possession); profit motive vs service motive; consumerism vs restrained consumption; exploitation vs antyodaya........

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