Beyond Capitalism and Socialism: Reconstructing Dattopant Thengadi’s “Third Way” and its Contemporary Relevance for Indian Economic Thought

Author

Dr. B. Dharmalingam

Abstract

 The search for an appropriate development paradigm has remained a persistent concern of modern Indian economic thought. While post-independence India experimented with state-led planning and subsequently moved towards liberalisation and deeper integration with the global economy, an alternative intellectual tradition questioned the assumption that India’s development trajectory should be determined exclusively by either Western capitalism or state socialism. Dattopant Bapurao Thengadi was among the important, yet relatively understudied, thinkers associated with this alternative tradition. This article critically reconstructs Thengadi’s concept of the “Third Way” as an alternative framework of political economy. Drawing primarily upon Thengadi’s writings and engaging with recent scholarship, it examines the intellectual relationship between his Third Way, Integral Humanism, Swadeshi, labour dignity, agricultural centrality, decentralisation, technological self-reliance and economic sovereignty. It argues that Thengadi’s project cannot be adequately understood either as simple protectionism or as an outright rejection of globalisation. Rather, he sought to formulate a model of development in which economic activity would remain embedded in social institutions, cultural values, productive labour and national interests. The article further examines the institutional expression of his ideas through the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and Swadeshi Jagran Manch. It critically evaluates the affinities and differences between Thengadi’s thought and contemporary policy discourses surrounding self-reliance, local production, resilient supply chains, inclusive development and sustainable development. At the same time, it situates his ideas within the ideological history of Hindu nationalism and acknowledges the tensions inherent in his attempt to combine civilisational particularity with universal claims. The article concludes that Thengadi’s enduring significance lies less in offering a ready-made economic blueprint than in raising a fundamental question: Can India modernise and participate in the global economy while retaining economic agency, social responsibility, productive capacity and cultural autonomy? Revisiting this question may contribute to a more plural understanding of Indian economic thought.

Keywords

Third Way; Swadeshi; Integral Humanism; Indian economic thought; Economic nationalism; Self-reliance; Hindu nationalism

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References

Dattopant Thengadi deserves a more sustained place in the study of modern Indian economic thought. His importance does not rest simply upon the organisations he founded or the political movement with which he was associated. It rests upon an intellectual problem that remains unresolved: How can a society modernise without becoming intellectually dependent, globalise without becoming economically vulnerable, and grow without reducing human beings to economic instruments?

His response was the idea of a Third Way. It sought to move beyond the capitalism–socialism binary by combining human-centred development, labour dignity, agricultural centrality, decentralisation, Swadeshi, technological autonomy and social responsibility.

The project was deeply embedded in the ideological world of Hindu nationalism, and this ideological location must form part of any serious scholarly assessment (Abraham, 2019; Adcock and Moodie, 2025; Narayan, 2025; Raianu, 2025). Yet ideological location should not prevent intellectual examination, just as admiration should not prevent critical scrutiny.

The scholarly value of Thengadi lies precisely in the possibility of doing both.

His Third Way was not a finished economic blueprint. Indeed, Thengadi himself described it as an attempt to stimulate public debate rather than a final answer (Thengadi, 1998). That makes the concept particularly suitable for contemporary reinterpretation.

In an era characterised by global economic integration, technological disruption, ecological crisis and renewed concern about national economic resilience, Thengadi’s central question has acquired renewed significance: Can India engage the world without losing the capacity to shape its own economic destiny?

The answer may not be found in returning to Thengadi’s prescriptions unchanged. It may instead lie in subjecting his ideas to the same process he invited: critical debate, empirical examination and continuous intellectual reconstruction.

That is perhaps the most productive way to bring Dattopant Thengadi from the margins of Indian economic historiography into the wider scholarly conversation on development, globalisation and political economy.

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