‘The Bonds of Cultural Unity’ and ‘The Arresting Influences of Alien Cultures’: the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Indian tourist publications, 1950–1965

This article analyses tourist publications produced by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in the Nehru era, examining how the MIB defined the Indian subcontinent to foreign readers and domestic travellers. The production of pamphlets and booklets by the MIB possessed economic, cultural, and symbolic importance. Though the Indian tourism industry paled in comparison to Western Europe, the government aimed to bring tourists to the subcontinent to garner ‘no strings attached’ foreign aid that fit within India's strategy of non-alignment. To attract foreign visitors and tourist spending, the Ministry presented India as a fundamentally united nation-state, promoting the Congress mantra of ‘unity in diversity’. At the same time, however, playing into foreign expectations of the subcontinent as well as reflecting an upper class, upper caste, Hindu interpretation of Indian national identity, the MIB emphasised Indian religiosity, particularly the religions native to India. In country-wide surveys and guidebooks along with publications on architecture, the Ministry touted the accomplishments of ‘natural Indians’ as testament of ancient genius, triumphs presented as disrupted by Muslim arrival. Despite an official commitment to secularism and ‘unity in diversity’, the MIB rooted Indian national identity in Indian religions, othering the Muslim minority in the process.