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For the sake of disclaimer, as a first-generation Kiwi-Hindu born and raised in the Indian Republic, I have never voted in the Indian elections and never will. However, I am active in the public sphere in Auckland, discussing and dissenting on issues close to my heart, and aspects affecting lives of me and my fellow Aucklanders, and New Zealanders.
Having said that, we are all familiar with the upcoming Matariki festival, which was only recognised as a public holiday earlier this decade. For the uninitiated, the Hindu equivalent of the Matariki constellation is the Kṛttikā, which represent six Hindu goddesses. The whāngai i te hautapu ceremony, conducted by tohunga, guided by Maramataka, is quite similar to the Vedic Homam/Havan conducted with the guidance of the panchāngam in Vedic rituals. I hope to see my fellow Kiwi-Hindus attend, acknowledge, and celebrate the upcoming Matariki hautapu events with the local iwi and tauiwi, and make Matariki a shared, blessed experience.
The 2026 Matariki will be extra special for Kiwi-Indians, with the scheduled visit of the Indian Prime Minister, H.E. Shri Narendra Modi Ji, to Aotearoa. I have seen the euphoria in the Kiwi-Indian community, and it would be hard to ignore the phenomenon of his political trajectory, and his global influence. As a New Zealander, I can’t unsee parallels of his domestic electoral journey, with Aotearoa’s own national politicians. Winning the 2019 Indian general elections in 2019, with an absolute majority, and Rt. Hon. Dr. Dame Jacinda Ardern winning the 2020 general elections, was a parallel, contemporary feat which had been hitherto thought impractical, and unrepeated since, in either democracy. Political mainstreaming of indigenous consciousness as a central grammar of a confidently electoral outreach, and policies such as implementing a capital gains tax, exponential growth of passenger rail, a dedicated authority towards indigenous approach to medicine and holistic wellness and using their global reputation to confidently assert their indigenous identity, were common policy platforms by both these leaders in India and New Zealand. If you supported these domestic policies of Modiji’s government, you would fall under the left of the political spectrum in Aotearoa. Cheekily, Modiji’s domestic political opposition is also colloquially labelled as “left liberals”, which is ironic, considering that the left and liberals will never be in a coalition in an ideal Anglophonic democracy as New Zealand. For my fellow Kiwis, if you wish to understand Modiji’s electoral successes, you ought to also comprehend the chequered history of the profoundly ancient Bharatiya civilisation, whose history of indigenous resistance is older than the history of the presence of humanity in Aotearoa. Part of the reason why the “left liberals” seem united as an opposition, would be because the vocal Hinduphobic voices have hijacked the cause behind these groups, rallying the social conservatives in a united bloc in favour of a hope for representing indigenous political Hindu aspirations.
As a New Zealander, I opine that the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi in our successful democracy is a global benchmark for guiding indigenous governance principles in a Westminster-style Parliamentary setup. This is radically opposite to our geographically closest democracy, Australia, where the native title was only acknowledged in 1992 with the Mabo v Queensland (No 2) judgement of the Australian High Court, followed by the Native Title Act 1993.
Modiji is the first person to achieve the feat of entering the Indian Parliament directly as the Prime Minister in 2014, and this original electoral mandate was earned on a poll promise of pro-indigenous Hindu Constitutional reforms, including education, civil code and personal law, and Mandir autonomy, some of which continue being unfulfilled 12 years later. I hope Modiji visits Aotearoa and takes notes on incorporating constitutionally mandated principles of indigenous governance (mana whenua) in partnership with a democratically elected Westminster-style Parliamentary democratic setup, while continuing to protect political rights of minorities like mine, to replicate a similar constitutional template in Bharat.
Haere Mai, Modiji-CVR Shastri