Virality a weapon in secret war on India: How PM Modi's strategy works in many battles of narrative | Point Blank

ONce state of war began with guns, artillery unit, and airstrikes, at present it starts in quiet. Weapons sheathed, keyboards clacking, a planted intelligence story to rattle markets, a single viral post on X, a bot swarm, an Instagram smear or a covert hack on the grid or a nuclear facility. The tools of war are rapidly evolving, but the targets remain the same. A nation's resources, its people, its reputation. Much like other countries, India has been facing this war as well.In his weekly column ‘Point Blank’, Shishir Gupta, Executive Editor, Hindustan Times, explains how India is fighting the many battles of narratives.Perception as a battlefieldToday, perception is bigger than reality; war is being waged by other means. Just as militaries once relied on pinpoint missiles, hostile actors now use pinpoint tweets, curated social media posts and targeted Instagram content to create chaos and tension. Social media is a force multiplier, weaponising posts against a country with clear objectives. Multiple powers – inside and outside a country’s geographical boundaries, state and non-state actors – then ride on and amplify these narratives for their own interests.PM Modi’s Call: Don’t wait for DelhiPrime Minister Narendra Modi signalled how seriously India views this when he addressed heads of mission on April 30. His message to the attendees: do not look back at Delhi before responding to false narratives about India.He urged envoys to counter disinformation swiftly, to use his popularity and credibility, and promised to back them even if they sometimes erred. The old habit of waiting for Delhi’s ‘homework’ means that by the time a response is ready, the damage is done – a particular problem for a country targeted by adversaries on both western and northern borders, as well as larger powers seeking to contain its rise.In this context, the central challenge is speed: how quickly can India launch a counter-narrative, rebut fake news, expose fake memes and confront attacks with facts? This is the main counter-weapon in this new-age warfare.China has formalised it by creating a dedicated information warfare division in the PLA. Information has become a battlefield where stories, memes and manipulated data can trigger real-world consequences in politics, markets and society.When the Prime Minister has to fact-checkOne recent episode showed the cost of a lethargic response. A misleading story about the foreign travel tax was allowed to circulate for nearly 12 hours while the Prime Minister was travelling from the UAE to the Netherlands, one of India’s biggest investors.The mischievous timing of the report seemed to be crafted with a specific objective. Ideally, due diligence should have led to an immediate clarification from the Finance Ministry, Information and Broadcasting Ministry or an official spokesperson.None came, at least not in time. This forced the Prime Minister to personally fact-check the story – an unusual occurrence, something which underlined the gravity of the situation.Within government, a culture of excessive caution worsens this lag. Officials seek confirmations up and down the chain – from under secretary to minister – before acting. By then, the narrative has taken hold. The Prime Minister’s intervention was both necessary and a message to the system: respond faster, or the information space will be ceded.Weaponised economic narrativesThe foreign travel tax story isn’t the only instance; the pattern was visible when another credible media platform broke a story claiming that the country’s central bank, RBI, was selling India’s gold reserves to protect the falling rupee.The timing of the story makes it suspicious as it was not based on facts and projected that India’s economy was sliding, even though the country ultimately posted 7.7% GDP growth.As such stories appear on seemingly credible platforms, investors take them seriously. Once again, the response from the officials came after a significant delay. In such cases, it is vital to label falsehoods as fake news quickly and to impose consequences on those responsible.Targeting people of Indian origin, and Indians abroad: The Singapore exampleThis new form of war is not limited to attacking a country and its citizens within its geographical boundaries. Recently, in Singapore, which has around 9% people of Indian origin and roughly 74% of Chinese origin, inflammatory videos surfaced targeting the minority Indian origin population.These videos reportedly originated on Chinese platforms before spreading to Facebook, X and Instagram, forcing Singapore’s authorities to clamp down.The episode had more to do with Singapore’s internal dynamics than India directly, but the posts were deliberately designed to target the Indian-origin community and leadership. Indians, through industry and hard work, occupy many top corporate and political positions in Singapore. The aim appeared to be to discredit a successful, upwardly mobile community, including Indian-origin CEOs, investors and politicians. An attack on India’s growing soft power.Bots, small states and a global webNow the enemy could come from anywhere. A small group of non-state actors or even states which are militarily no match for a country like India could create serious trouble if not countered.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a recent interview with CBS, pointed to Pakistani bot networks smearing Israelis and Jews in the US and riling up segments of American society. This illustrates how relatively smaller states like Pakistan or Bangladesh can punch above their weight in narrative battles by deploying bot armies and coordinated online campaigns.For India, Pakistan, and China are the principal state sponsors in this arena. Both are authoritarian, with their intelligence agencies operating in ‘mission mode’. They generate large volumes of targeted content against India. This material is then boosted by actors in the UK, Canada, Germany, Turkey and elsewhere. There are original content creators, force multipliers and amplifiers. Inside India, self-described left-liberals who detest the current government often end up aligning, willingly or not, with these external narratives. Opposition parties can ride on them as well.Nepal, western media and minority narrativesThe India–Nepal episode around Rabi Lamichhane, leader of Nepal’s Rastriya Swatantra Party, offers a glimpse of the narrative trap. After he visited India and wrote about bringing the two countries closer, followed by a visit by Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, elements linked to ‘Aman ki Asha’ type groups began asking why border issues were not raised during the meeting with Indian officials and why Lamichhane admitted Nepal had encroached on Indian land.In fact, he was stating the truth, and both sides sought to move closer, reflecting deep societal ties and an open border. But the narrative was twisted to generate friction.Batting on the front footInformation warfare is now as significant as conventional warfare and more insidious because it is constant and often invisible. China’s PLA and Pakistan’s ISI run dedicated operations, while in India, responsibilities are fragmented, and no single agency fully focuses on social media’s power. Yet rising countries must build “firewalls” – institutional, legal and technological – to protect citizens from relentless disinformation and false narratives.Indian bureaucracy, burdened with a colonial-era mindset, tends to hesitate, with officials looking over their shoulders instead of acting decisively. Social media allows no such luxury. In this arena, India must bat on the front foot – or risk being bowled by more agile adversaries.