The Great Indian Disinformation Bazaar: Open Since 2014


https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/operation-sindoor-india-needs-information-defence-not-just-rebuttals-125061201445_1.html

Lets begin with a bitter truth, served neat: the great Modi revolution of 2014 was not built on reform, renaissance, or even righteous anger. It was built on a well-oiled machinery of misinformation and disinformation. Call it what you will—spin, distortion, propaganda—but it has served as the backbone of the new India that many chest-thump about and too few dare question.

Remember the three scandals that brought down the UPA government like a house of damp cards? Commonwealth Games, 2G spectrum, and Coalgate. All were declared “historic scams” by our then-echoing newsrooms. Faces were red with rage, fists were raised in candlelight vigils, and an old man in a Gandhi cap threatened fasts unto death. The result? After all the commotion, not a single conviction. Courts dismissed the cases. No money trail, no fraud. Just the noise of a nation expertly manipulated.

The anti-corruption crusade? It turned out to be a well-scripted drama. Anna Hazare faded into the fog, and the India Against Corruption crowd—many of whom now sip tea in ministerial bungalows—dissolved quietly into the establishment. In hindsight, 2014 wasn’t a public awakening. It was the opening act in India’s Golden age of disinformation.

Then came 2020—a year that should be taught in journalism schools as a case study in diversion. While millions of migrant workers walked barefoot across a locked-down nation without food, jobs, or dignity, a young actress named Rhea Chakraborty was dragged into a media circus. Witchcraft, drugs, murder—anything that could grab eyeballs and bury the image of starving labourers. It worked. The middle class sipped its coffee and discussed cannabis on WhatsApp while ignoring the worst humanitarian crisis in decades.

You think this chaos is random? It’s not. It’s curated, like an art exhibit—only the art here is propaganda. Take phrases like “Love Jihad,” “Thook Jihad,” “UPSC Jihad”—all born not in public discourse but in primetime studios, then laundered and weaponised across social media. These aren’t spontaneous eruptions of public concern. They are planted talking points, nurtured by a digital army that only wakes when the BJP sneezes.

Disinformation today spreads faster than dengue in Delhi. All it takes is one viral post, one unverified clip, one half-baked rumour. Truth, meanwhile, struggles with bureaucracy, rebuttals, and relevance.

And then there’s the great performance piece of this government—Man Ki Baat. What began as a potentially meaningful monthly address has now become an uninspired soliloquy. There is no soul, no spark, no surprise. It’s like watching Doordarshan at half-volume: phrases like “Viksit Bharat” and “self-reliance” echo like slogans from a broken loudspeaker. To make matters worse, even the facts Modi quotes have increasingly come under question. In a recent episode, statistics on rural electrification and youth employment bore no resemblance to official data. No correction was issued. No clarification offered. After all, why bother with facts when fiction is so much more flattering?

He isn’t speaking with the people. He is speaking at them. The mic is his, the applause mandatory.

Meanwhile, those who dare to call out misinformation—journalists, fact-checkers, academics—face legal harassment, online abuse, and economic strangulation. This isn’t accidental. It is policy, dressed in patriotism.

You see, we aren’t just victims of disinformation. We are now being told that to question it is anti-national.

Which brings me to the point this entire essay has circled around. We are told by columnists and commentators that India must now prepare for “information defence.” But defence from whom? From WhatsApp uncles? Or from the very political ecosystem that has built its power on propaganda? Let’s not be coy. The BJP has done nothing—absolutely nothing—to combat this epidemic. On the contrary, it has fed, funded, and flourished because of it.

This is not just the age of disinformation.
This is the age of manufactured consent.
And India—tired, bruised, and gaslit—deserves far better.

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