The public sphere must be reclaimed
#saynotohate #saynotonamocracy #modicracy
It’s a potent tactic being deployed — the insidious spread of disinformation through interwoven strands of mass media and social platforms. A concerted effort to manipulate public opinion and cement a dominant political narrative at the expense of open democratic discourse.
Let’s break it down:
Manufactured Consensus
In India, media ownership often aligns with partisan interests, tailoring coverage to further the BJP’s agenda. The control over the flow of information manufactures an illusion of consensus reality while actively undermining opposing viewpoints and dissenting voices.
And they’re getting sophisticated — employing advanced marketing techniques to microsegment society and inundate different groups with custom-tailored divisive messages designed to stoke grievances and reinforce existing fault lines while manufacturing the illusion of widespread consent.
Digital Echo Chambers
Social media’s algorithmic echo chambers have become fertile ground for amplifying extreme Hindutva rhetoric. The platforms themselves are now being weaponized, tapping into societal biases and prejudices to make users more susceptible to inflammatory narratives that drown out diverse perspectives.
Pop Culture
But it doesn’t stop at overt propaganda. The BJP’s ideological reach now extends into mainstream popular culture — television, films laced with subtle nationalist, religious and cultural undertones that gradually normalize their worldview and reshape societal values from within.
Counteroffensive
Defending open discourse requires a multi-pronged approach — deradicalization programs using insights from sociology and psychology to deconstruct extremist ideologies and rebuild critical thinking. Bolstering digital literacy and robust fact-checking mechanisms to inoculate society against weaponized disinformation.
This is not just India’s battle — it’s a fight for preserving democratic values globally against the erosion of truth by malignant, self-serving narratives manufactured to serve the powerful.
With inputs from Yamini and a little help from Gen AI
