It's Not Surprising J.D. Vance Went to Akshardham – But Before Modi, it Would Have Been

New Delhi: The photograph of American Vice-President J.D. Vance and his family posing on April 21 against the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham temple built on the floodplains of Yamuna river in Delhi may remind viewers of another top foreign dignitary standing on the steps of that Vaishnava edifice with his wife in 2023 — then British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Like Vance, his wife Usha and their two children dressed in colourful Indian clothes, Sunak and wife Akshata Murthy, donning a salwar kameez, had also offered prayers at the ornate temple on the morning of September 11, 2023.

Those two photographs may give the impression that the temple visits by both Vance and Sunak might well be due to their Hindu connection — either by marriage and/or by family lineage. However, a look at the temple’s website tells a different story – that since Narendra Modi took over as India’s prime minister, the temple, hinged on the beliefs of a Vaishnava sect started by a Gujarat-born swami in the 19th century, is increasingly becoming a part of the itineraries of visiting foreign dignitaries. Even those without a Hindu connection have visited the temple which opened its doors in 2005. During Modi’s days as a politician in Gujarat, he was seen as close to the sect. In 2024, Modi inaugurated the sect's temple in the UAE – the first Hindu temple in that country.

The Akshardham temple in Delhi is a part of a large chain of temples built across the world by the influential Swaminarayan sect. Considered a version of Gujarati Vaishnavism, most of its followers belong to the western state. During the prime ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 30 acres of land of the Yamuna river bed and surrounding areas were famously handed over to the sect by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at the cost of Rs 77 lakh, reportedly at the behest of then home minister L.K. Advani. Advani is also considered close to the sect; his parliamentary constituency Gandhinagar (which now has Union home minister Amit Shah as its MP) has such temples and a huge concentration of its devotees.

When the land was handed over, a petition was filed at the Supreme Court stating that the DDA had changed its Master Plan to show that piece of land as “public and semi-public” from its initial classification of “agricultural and water body”, and building a temple might prevent recharge of underground water, nothing much came of it. The Delhi temple, built on that land, is now cited as one of the world’s largest Hindu temples to have been built in recent times.

Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty at Akshardham temple. Photo: X/@RishiSunak

Apart from the devotees of the sect, the temple has been attracting domestic tourists for its luxurious facade. But in Mughal-era-heritage-rich Delhi, it was never known to be the top choice of a visiting foreign dignitary, particularly on an official visit. This is simply because aside from the near-mandatory visit to Gandhi’s samadhi Rajghat, the suggestions offered by either the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) or the respective embassies would typically be to pick from a set of traditional choices based on their historic importance, and at times, based or local popularity. That list would typically include the Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb, Qutub Minar, Lodhi Garden, Jantar Mantar, Nizamuddin Dargah, Bangal Sahib and Rakabganj Gurudwara, besides the National Museum, Sundar Nursery, Santoshi Shopping Complex, Cottage Emporium, Dilli Haat, etc.

Also, if a certain country has aided the restoration work of some of the historically important sites of Delhi, the embassies would typically also include those spots in the itineraries of their top dignitaries. Say, the Humayun’s tomb or Sundar Nursery for an American dignitary.

The Akshardham temple website, however, stands proof to how this attraction has gained popularity among foreign visitors under Modi's rule. If we go by the temple’s website, between 2007 and 2013, only three top dignitaries had paid a visit to the temple — then Finland President P. Arajarvi and his wife in 2007; then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009, and Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker in 2013 during their official trip. Boris Johnson, then the mayor of London, too had visited the temple in 2012; so did Cherie Blair in 2008 but by then her husband was no more the British prime minister. It was not an official visit.

Just weeks after Modi took over as the newly sworn in prime minister, he visited the temple – on June 24, 2014. Since then, what we see is that the number of visits by foreign dignitaries during their official visits to New Delhi to the temple run by the Gujarati-heavy sect has gone up exponentially.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was the first foreign dignitary to have visited the temple in the Modi era during an official trip — in December 2014. Since then, as many as 16 presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers of various counties have visited the Akshardham temple while on official visits.

For instance, days before Vance’s visit, on April 20, visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his 110-member delegation were taken to the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham temple.

As per the temple’s website, the next entry is from August 2023, when US Congressmen Ed Case and Rich McCormick had paid a visit to the temple during their official visit to India. This was aside from a US Congressional delegation led by Ro Khanna on August 15, 2023.

On February 19 of that year, Delaware (US) governor John Carney and his ten-member team too visited the temple “at the start of his first visit to India to further cooperation with India in various sectors and efforts in strengthening Gujarat-Delaware  sister state relations”. In a video clip recorded against the temple, Governor Carney gave credit to his “Indian American friends” back home for the suggestion to visit it.

Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon during a visit to the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in New Delhi on March 18, 2025. Photo: X/@chrisluxonmp

On May 1, 2022, Guyana’s foreign affairs and international cooperation minister Hugh Hilton, on an official visit to New Delhi, was there with a five-member delegation. In April 2022, another foreign dignitary on an official visit, Armenian foreign minister Araray Mirzoyan, also visited the temple along with that country’s deputy foreign minister.

In February 2021, when Alex Ellis took over as the new high commissioner of the United Kingdom, he took his entire family to the temple. In a video of his trip uploaded on the temple’s website, Ellis called it “auspicious” for his “new beginning” in India.

During Myanmar President Win Myint’s official visit to India in February 2020, Akshardham was on his itinerary. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during his trip to New Delhi in 2020 as the chief guest of the 71st Republic Day, had visited the temple. He was accompanied by his two daughters besides some members of the Brazilian parliament.

2019 saw visits by Mongolian president Khaltmaagin Battulga and US Senator Bob Menendez. Phil Murphy, the first New Jersey governor to visit India, also went to the Akshardham temple along with his wife. New Jersey has at least three temples of the Swaminarayan sect.

Australian chief minister of capital territory Andrew Barr was also a visitor in 2019. Among other dignitaries from the United States visiting the temple in 2019 was CIA director Gina Haspel.

During Modi’s first term, when South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited New Delhi, he too was taken to Akshardham temple.

In April 2017, we saw Modi re-visiting the temple, this time accompanied by then Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull, also that country’s top businessman. Turnbull's visit was significant also because just weeks before visiting India, he had strongly supported the Gujarati energy tycoon seen extremely close to Modi, Gautam Adani, in the controversial $16.5 billion coal mine in Queensland. In February 2024, when Turnbull was on a personal visit to Gujarat, he was hosted by Adani at Khavda, where the Adani Group was then building “the world’s largest 30 GW hybrid renewable park” spanning 750 square km.

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