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The Virtual Hindu Rashtra: Saffron Nationalism and New Media
From websites devoted to battling a Left-liberal media ecosystem to the formidable internet army of Hindu Right volunteers, from online narratives of Hindu valour to Narendra Modi s impeccably-managed social media presence, new media is an integral part of present-day Hindu nationalism. The Virtual Hindu Rashtra examines the relationship of Hindu nationalism and new media as manifested across a range of internet spaces, including Twitter trends in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party s government policies, Facebook pages dedicated to the cultural project of establishing a Hindu state, and WhatsApp groups circulating jokes about Modi s critics. Situating online Hindu nationalism in a historical context, this book analyses the movement with respect to national and global political trends, such as the ascendancy of authoritarian political personalities worldwide and the phenomenon of fake news. Parsing the many expressions of online Hindu nationalism, the book concludes with a reflection on the implications of the relationship of Hindu nationalism and new media for democracy in India.
- GenresNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
Published May 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 29, 2022
Met him at an event, absolutely biased, works with ( funded by ) iamc, anti India propagandist totally subversive in his means .. sadly violent a person who’s been removed from Twitter.
July 11, 2020
Even though it is a brilliant insight into the Indian political social media sphere and how the BJP has undeniably weaponized it, I cannot help but feel like I’m being underhanded by an ulterior motive. Instead of stating facts that gradually flow into his narrative, Chopra uses facts to supplement his point of view, often times without representing all sides of the arguments.
July 7, 2024
Two reasons I bought and dared to read this book - a) to bolster my confirmation bias, b) it came dirt cheap after unusually heavy discount on Amazon.
I had no idea who the author was, till I read in his introduction that he was the face behind the twitter handle "IndiaExplained", which I used to follow amongst the 1000 others, when I was actively checking social media every 10 mins. (Thankfully, I have almost quit social media for quite some time now. Oh my blessed soul! My days are so peaceful.)
The author warns in the introduction, that he is no journalist and hence not to expect any investigative journalism from this book. Rather the readers is expected to consider it as an academic treatise, as that's his main profession anyway. He teaches media and communication in an American University.
Few pages in and the author destroyed conveniently my positive assumption that 'not all academic papers need to be boring'. This book reads like a long academic diatribe hammering on the same point again and again, without going into the rigour of providing evidences to justify the arguments, or even pretending to provide the essays a modicum of interesting stuff for the readers who don't spend their lives in the corridors of an University dorm to enjoy.
India media is currently in a dire state. Any self-respecting person, who values his or her time, would completely avoid the TV media, which is nothing but an echo-chamber of the ruling party. The social media is even worse. Even if the ruling party had an early mover advantage of propagating fake news and propaganda, dominating the social media before 2019, I observe, that the oppositions have learnt the trick and now responsible for 50% of the mess. Thankfully, since the day Elon Musk took the rein of Twitter under him, my X timeline is now filled with funny and vulgar Youtube-Shorts kind of videos, instead of political bickering and abuse pretending to provide news, which made my decision pretty easy to quit that space entirely. Now, I confine myself to the paid news in the pink newspapers for my daily dose of entertainment. I presumed that the author would provide some additional points which I can use when I argue with my friends, why they should stop following the news altogether. I got none.
If you are a casual observer of Indian politics and social media for quite some time now, you probably would yawningly agree with the author, while simultaneously thinking, if you would have bought that beer instead of this book.
And, if you would take my suggestion, go for the beer.
I had no idea who the author was, till I read in his introduction that he was the face behind the twitter handle "IndiaExplained", which I used to follow amongst the 1000 others, when I was actively checking social media every 10 mins. (Thankfully, I have almost quit social media for quite some time now. Oh my blessed soul! My days are so peaceful.)
The author warns in the introduction, that he is no journalist and hence not to expect any investigative journalism from this book. Rather the readers is expected to consider it as an academic treatise, as that's his main profession anyway. He teaches media and communication in an American University.
Few pages in and the author destroyed conveniently my positive assumption that 'not all academic papers need to be boring'. This book reads like a long academic diatribe hammering on the same point again and again, without going into the rigour of providing evidences to justify the arguments, or even pretending to provide the essays a modicum of interesting stuff for the readers who don't spend their lives in the corridors of an University dorm to enjoy.
India media is currently in a dire state. Any self-respecting person, who values his or her time, would completely avoid the TV media, which is nothing but an echo-chamber of the ruling party. The social media is even worse. Even if the ruling party had an early mover advantage of propagating fake news and propaganda, dominating the social media before 2019, I observe, that the oppositions have learnt the trick and now responsible for 50% of the mess. Thankfully, since the day Elon Musk took the rein of Twitter under him, my X timeline is now filled with funny and vulgar Youtube-Shorts kind of videos, instead of political bickering and abuse pretending to provide news, which made my decision pretty easy to quit that space entirely. Now, I confine myself to the paid news in the pink newspapers for my daily dose of entertainment. I presumed that the author would provide some additional points which I can use when I argue with my friends, why they should stop following the news altogether. I got none.
If you are a casual observer of Indian politics and social media for quite some time now, you probably would yawningly agree with the author, while simultaneously thinking, if you would have bought that beer instead of this book.
And, if you would take my suggestion, go for the beer.
June 17, 2019
The book is precisely what the title says. It starts with the fundamentals of hindutva and early internet companies which helped spread this disease. It covers topics like gender politics, subdugation of mintories, social media venom, the role of media houses, the role of data companies and a lot more. This compendium of hindutva separates facts and incidents from his personal opinion very clearly and supports his arguments with a lot of references like a true academic. Rohit also draws parallels between Modi's govt, historical events and other global developments. I've been following Rohit's podcast/IndiaExplained handle for a while now and share a lot of his biases as well. The storytelling is amazing and I learned a lot about the cogs of this communal hindutva machinery.
September 9, 2019
Great subject and very timely but I would have liked more detail.
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January 18, 2020This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews