Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday, 8 July 2026, praised the decision to deploy Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) expertise in the conservation of the Prambanan Temple in Indonesia, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for deepening India's civilisational ties with the Indo-Pacific world.

Context

Gupta's post, written in Hindi, stated that under PM Modi's leadership, 'Bharat apni Sanatan sāṃskṛtik virasat se jude vaiśvik sambandhon ko naī ūrjā de rahā hai' — ('India is infusing new energy into its global relationships rooted in its Sanatan cultural heritage'). She specifically highlighted that ASI will now share its conservation expertise at the Prambanan Temple complex, a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in Central Java inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. The post carried the hashtag #PMModiInIndonesia, placing it in the context of an ongoing or recent high-level bilateral visit.

Policy Backdrop

India's Act East Policy, formally upgraded in 2014, places cultural and civilisational engagement with ASEAN nations at its core alongside economic and strategic priorities. The deployment of ASI — India's apex archaeological body, founded in 1861 — for overseas heritage conservation is a well-established instrument of Indian soft power. Similar ASI-led conservation partnerships have previously been undertaken in Cambodia and Vietnam, where shared Hindu-Buddhist heritage provided the diplomatic scaffolding.

The Prambanan announcement follows this established pattern of coupling high-profile bilateral visits with tangible, on-the-ground heritage cooperation. Indonesia holds the world's largest Muslim-majority population, yet its pre-Islamic Hindu-Buddhist heritage — most visibly at Prambanan and Borobudur — remains central to national identity, making cultural cooperation a politically resonant area for both governments.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the partnership include Indonesian heritage conservation bodies, the Indonesian tourism sector, and the broader community of scholars and pilgrims connected to the site. For India, the collaboration reinforces ASI's international profile and strengthens the narrative of a shared civilisational arc across the Indo-Pacific. Gupta's post invoked the chant 'Om Namah Shivaya', describing it as 'Sanatan ki shāśvat chetanā kā divya svar' — ('the divine voice of Sanatan's eternal consciousness') — resonating at Prambanan, underlining the cultural and spiritual framing the BJP government places on such diplomatic moves.

For the Delhi BJP, amplifying the announcement serves a dual purpose: it associates the party's state leadership with a nationally celebrated foreign-policy achievement, and it reinforces the broader ideological emphasis on India's Hindu-Buddhist civilisational identity in global affairs.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the formalisation of the ASI technical partnership, including the specific terms, timeline, and scope of conservation work at Prambanan. Any joint heritage project announcements emerging from upcoming India-ASEAN summits or bilateral meetings between New Delhi and Jakarta will be closely watched. The Prambanan initiative may also set a template for similar ASI engagements at other Hindu-Buddhist heritage sites across Southeast Asia.