Post-Truth in the Indian Context: Navigating a World Beyond Facts

 

Post-Truth in the Indian Context: Navigating a World Beyond Facts

In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary crowned “post-truth” as its Word of the Year, defining it as a state where “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” While the term gained global traction amid events like Brexit and Donald Trump’s election, India — a nation with a complex socio-political fabric — has long been wrestling with its own version of post-truth politics. Far from being a recent import, post-truth in India is deeply rooted in its historical, cultural, and technological realities, amplified in recent years by divisive debates, digital misinformation, and emotive narratives. This article explores how post-truth manifests in India today, drawing on recent issues and debates that highlight its growing influence.

A Historical Undercurrent Meets Modern Politics

India’s tryst with post-truth didn’t begin with a single event but has evolved over decades. Scholars like Swapan Dasgupta have argued that Indian perceptions of truth have always been subjective, shaped by cultural narratives rather than rigid binaries of fact and fiction. From the mythologized tales of 1857’s chapati signals to the deification of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, emotional resonance has often trumped empirical evidence in public discourse. However, the 2014 election of Narendra Modi and the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) marked a pivotal shift, blending this historical tendency with modern political strategy.

The 2014 campaign leaned heavily on emotive slogans like “Achhe Din Aane Wale Hain” (Good Days Are Coming) and a narrative of national rejuvenation, often sidelining substantive policy critique. This wasn’t unique to India — Trump’s “Make America Great Again” echoed a similar sentiment — but India’s scale and diversity made it a fertile ground for post-truth to flourish. The BJP’s adept use of social media, particularly WhatsApp and Twitter, turned these platforms into echo chambers where half-truths and hyperbole could spread unchecked.

Recent Issues: Demonetization, Electoral Bonds, and Beyond

One of the starkest examples of post-truth in recent Indian history is the 2016 demonetization policy. Announced abruptly by Prime Minister Modi, the move invalidated 86% of India’s currency overnight, ostensibly to curb black money and corruption. The narrative was compelling: a bold leader striking at the heart of economic evil. Yet, the Reserve Bank of India later reported that 99.3% of the banned notes returned to the system, undermining the stated goal. Despite this, the policy retained public support, buoyed by emotional appeals to sacrifice and patriotism rather than economic outcomes. As The Conversation noted in 2017, “Modi’s government has shown how key decisions can be completely divorced from the everyday lives of Indian citizens, but spun to seem like they have been made for their benefit.”

Fast forward to 2024, and the debate over electoral bonds offers another lens into post-truth dynamics. Introduced in 2018 to enhance transparency in political funding, the scheme was struck down by the Supreme Court in February 2024 for violating voters’ right to information. Critics pointed out that the anonymity of donors — facilitated through the State Bank of India — allowed the ruling party potential leverage over corporate funders, a charge the BJP dismissed as opposition propaganda. Public discourse quickly devolved into a battle of narratives: the government framed it as a reform against black money, while opponents called it a tool for institutional opacity. Facts — like the disproportionate funding to the BJP revealed in partial data releases — were drowned out by partisan shouting matches on television and X.

The Digital Amplifier: Misinformation and Mob Mentality

India’s digital revolution has supercharged post-truth tendencies. With over 800 million internet users by 2025, platforms like WhatsApp have become breeding grounds for misinformation. The 2019 Pulwama attack and subsequent tensions with Pakistan saw viral fake videos — some lifted from video games — circulated as evidence of India’s military might. More recently, during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, doctored clips of opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, fueled narratives of incompetence or betrayal, often devoid of context. The Quint’s WebQoof initiative has tirelessly debunked such content, yet the emotional pull of these “alternative facts” often outpaces fact-checking efforts.

This digital deluge has real-world consequences. Lynchings triggered by WhatsApp rumors about child abductors or cow slaughter — peaking in 2018 but persisting into recent years — illustrate how post-truth can turn deadly. The BJP’s critics argue its Hindu nationalist agenda amplifies such incidents, though the party counters that these are isolated acts exaggerated by a biased media. Either way, the truth becomes a casualty as public outrage overrides evidence.

Debates on Identity and Dissent

Post-truth in India isn’t just about policy or misinformation — it’s increasingly about identity. The 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) sparked nationwide protests, with the government framing it as a humanitarian gesture for persecuted minorities from neighboring countries (excluding Muslims). Opponents decried it as discriminatory, pointing to its alignment with the BJP’s Hindutva ideology. The debate wasn’t settled by legal or statistical analysis but by competing visions of “Indianness” — one rooted in secular pluralism, the other in majoritarian pride. Pew Research in 2021 found that 60% of Hindu voters who tied national identity to Hinduism and Hindi backed the BJP, underscoring how emotion and belief shape political allegiance.

Dissent, too, has been ensnared in this post-truth web. The 2023 arrests of activists and journalists under stringent laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act — often justified with vague accusations of “anti-national” behavior — reflect a narrative where questioning the state is equated with treason. The 2021 farmers’ protests saw a similar playbook: the government painted agitators as misled or seditious, while supporters hailed them as guardians of rural India. Facts about farm laws took a backseat to these dueling stories.

Where Do We Go From Here?

India’s post-truth era poses a paradox: a democracy thriving on participation yet increasingly unmoored from shared facts. The media, once a gatekeeper, now amplifies the chaos, with partisan outlets on all sides prioritizing clicks over clarity. Civil society efforts — like The Quint’s fact-checking or Google’s training of Indian journalists — offer hope, but they’re dwarfed by the scale of the challenge.

Addressing this requires more than technological fixes. It demands a cultural reckoning with how truth is perceived and a political will to prioritize evidence over narrative. As India navigates its next chapter — be it the fallout of the 2024 elections or new socio-economic policies — the stakes are high. In a nation of 1.4 billion voices, post-truth isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a test of whether democracy can endure when facts fade into the background.