A war of narratives: Why dehyphenation should be the top priority for India.

Since India's independence in 1947, after the then United Kingdom under Clement Attlee of the Labour Party found it untenable to maintain control of a vast, rebellious piece of land given the post-WWII financial situation at the time, the Dominion and the subsequent Republic of India has been on a steady economic and strategic upward march, albeit slowly and steadily.

Three Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft flying in formation [Courtesy: Indian Air Force]

From Nehru's idealism and non alignment, to Indira and her iron fist, which unleashed great suffering among the people through her imposition of the now-infamous Emergency, yet was the period which brought great honour to India, giving her many fearless warriors who would continue to be honoured decades later, creating new nations, and forging new paths for the nascent Indian republic. From Desai and his humble, yet people-centric premiership to Rajiv's information technology revolution, and instability on the Lankan front, the Indian republic has seen many trials and tribulations, but still emerged victorious over her enemies, both at home and abroad.

Meanwhile Pakistan, having seen coup after coup, the threat of radical Islam, generals like Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, and Pervez Musharraf seizing power in an instant, ruling over significant periods of history, with no checks or balances to their power, and with the support of the people for the one disciplined and well-oiled institution among a slew of corrupt, slow and bureaucratic civil ones, with slogans of "Mashallah ho gaya!", whenever a military coup took place (as a wordplay of "martial law"), grave economic instability, erratic policies, and the strategic enslavement under the US' War on Terror in the 2000s, has seen little economic growth or activity, nascent investment, and huge gaps in skilled human capital, along with very little improvement in standard of living metrics, such as the Human Development Index.

Yet, with a $4 trillion economy, the modern Republic of India has found itself to be, among strategic and diplomatic circles to be a mere manifestation of an irrelevant, or semi-relevant (since the establishment of nuclear warheads on the subcontinent) conflict, which has engulfed India's Western front for the entirety of its existence, be it 26/11, the Pahalgam attacks, the Pulwama attacks, the four wars fought with the state itself, or multiple other fronts opened on the Republic diplomatically, economically and strategically. It has found itself to be tunnel-visioned in the eyes of the world, to one conflict, and of no other significant value to the world order as a whole, which reflects the tragic yet brutal failure of India in winning the asymmetric battleground of narrative warfare.

India has been reduced in the global strategic and public image, to be the "other side of the coin" that is the highly publicized and externally molded narrative of the conflict between the two nuclear-armed powers. The fact that this is a grim reflection of the reality boils down to the fact that no party has been able to separate itself from the other, from a narrative point of view. The two nations remain, even today, so fixated on each other, like two ex-partners having divorced, but still spewing venom at each other, to an external party, may seem like 2 equals fighting, even though that is not nearly the case.

However, a greater role in this hyphenation is due to the sheer, and unfathomable level of restraint shown by India over the years, to the extent which forces one to wonder, is this restraint, or something else? A manifestation of the bureaucratic soul of India? A lack of understanding of the power of narratives in nation building? Or a naïve belief that the world will judge the conflict and the nations on merit, akin to a neutral arbiter? In any case, the Indian state must be held accountable, regardless of any administration over the 75 years of Indian independence. The utter absence of an assertive Indian narrative on the world stage serving purely Indian interests, creates an information vacuum that many other state and non state actors would be, and historically have been more than happy to fill, to cater to their goals, interests, prejudices or notions.

The fact that the state broadcaster Prasar Bharati, has not been able to keep up with the fast changing, agile and dynamic landscape of information dissemination unlike other state broadcasters such as the BBC, NHK or VGTRK, coupled with the sheer defensive and reactionary nature of Indian foreign and strategic policy, further underscores the urgent and desperate need of assertiveness in narrative enforcement that a rising power in India faces, given its immense strides in hard power acquisition. The inherent democratic nature of discussion, as well as the focus on mindless, illogical and downright obsessive social media arguments in India do not help the situation in any way.

The need of the hour is to approach the handling of narratives on a war footing, with the complete overhaul, capacity building and modernisation of the state broadcaster to world-class reportage, presentation and professional capabilities, as opposed to current incremental upgrades, as well as coordinated public-facing strategic, diplomatic and pop culture campaigns (state-funded or otherwise), in order to propagate the narrative most conducive to India's national interests in any given sphere.

To many, the high perceived upfront cost of such campaigns might seem like too much risk for too little immediate returns, which is understandable. However, the moment is now, where the world is still a blank canvas, where not a lot of art has been made on it yet. The Indian state would do itself a favour, by seizing the opportunity while it is still open, and proactively shaping narratives and public perception. Else, it risks yielding the canvas to artists that may reduce the most populous nation on earth and the fastest growing large economy of the 21st century, into a mere footnote of history through the sheer power of perceptions.