The spectacle of Bangladesh, Indonesia, and pakistan flaunting Hindu cultural motifs at Miss Universe 2025—while india chose to foreground Buddhism—reveals more than aesthetic preference. It exposes a geopolitical performance where culture becomes soft-power currency. For these South Asian and Southeast Asian contestants, showcasing Hindu iconography is less about heritage and more about courting global tourist markets and diaspora sentiment. The rising demand for “Indic exotica” internationally provides a convenient economic incentive.
India’s decision to highlight buddhism instead appears calculated, too: a strategic attempt to project a pacifist, pan-Asian identity palatable to Western audiences uncomfortable with India’s current majoritarian politics. But such a shift raises contradictions. Why does the world’s only Hindu-majority nation outsource Hindu representational power to its neighbours, who themselves struggle with protecting Hindu minorities?
Institutions like national pageant committees, tourism boards, and cultural ministries seem more invested in global branding than in internal coherence. The short-term gain is PR mileage; the long-term risk is a fragmented cultural narrative where India’s identity is selectively curated for global approval rather than internal confidence.
If neighbouring countries profit from showcasing a culture india hesitates to claim, who is really shaping the narrative of South Asian identity on the world stage—and to whose benefit?
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