What makes it ‘Incredible India’?

India has been trying for decades to portray a softer image of themselves in the world as is evident by their tourism campaign ‘Incredible India’. Unfortunately, ‘incredible India’ is not the way it has been depicted through the lens of international and local media. Many grounded realities and atrocities are hidden under the mantras of cultural and ethnic diversity and secularism.

The actual media chess board is controlled by the business elite, Hindu rightist politicians and the government. Politicians have a keen interest in news media regulation due to high degree of political ownership in this sector; there is a symbiotic relationship between Hindu nationalism and big business. Both are hand-in-hand and both reinforce each other.

There seems to be a homogenous media for a heterogeneous audience. In addition, many politicians have become mouthpieces of BJP’s official propaganda. In fact some politicians do not think twice about promoting religious polarisation and even hatred in pursuit of the political agenda of the ruling BJP. Thus, the political and electoral logic, and business elite shape the Indian media regulation.

India is not just a South Asian state; it’s a giant deep-rooted ancient existence with present-day land mass of 3287.0 thousand sq.km and 357 inhabitants per sq.km. This ancient civilization is dominated by its multi-ethnic identities with different racial roots and their diverse cultural attractive norms and colourful rituals.

The Indian media is considered as one of the biggest markets in the world due to its large followers and impact, but the actual decisive policy making is concentrated within the interest-oriented few groups. Political and economic interests dominate the media narrative and censors the ground realties to build an attractive chronicle for the West which has been fascinated by the Indian Harnaaz Sandhu winning the Miss Universe Crown at the international beauty pageant. The reality is that Indian women have been facing severe gender discrimination, worse malnutrition levels, and about 77 rape cases per day as per the 2020 data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). But then again, what matters is not the truth, but the feel-good factor, the daily dose of steroids the Indian elite so desperately needs—and gets—through the media. Despite the decline in its quality, authenticity, reliability, credibility, pluralism, India still attracts the West. This is because the international media perception of India is not built on ground realties.

Primarily, there are two main factors which are shaping the international media perception of India; first the Indian local media and what they portray, and secondly, western guided interests with India that shapes their foreign policy priorities and relationship. Accordingly, the potential contributors in the international media perceptions of India and its impact on its key relationships with the western world, can be identified through the key foreign policy indicators.

India is seen as a key potential ally by the West vis-à-vis China in the region, due to its central and geo-political strategic location in South Asia to counter Chinese growing hegemonic designs. China is an imperial power for the West, whereas Indian image is more inclined towards soft power due to its ethno-cultural diversity. However, in the aftermath of the Russo-Ukraine crisis, the political sphere clearly indicates two blocs; firstly Russia and China and secondly US, UK and EU. In such a scenario India’s geo-strategic position is an additional strength which eventually places India in a strong position in the western world.

India claims to be the world’s largest democracy, which is true in terms of its size and population, but there are issues with its implementation. The overall view of democracy in India is eye-catching for the west. The most important factor for the western interest in India is their economy, market size, cheap labour and other growing services’ sectors such as IT. India claims that it has emerged as the fastest-growing major economy in the world and expects to be considered as one of the top three economic powers of the world.

Another appealing aspect for the west is secularism and ethnic diversity. Indian political structure is based on secular lines to accommodate all minorities with different backgrounds and religions. However, in the current scenario, Hindutva is challenging the traditional and secular ideology of the formative phase of modern India. Yet, secularism has proven to be very attractive for the West due to its overlapping nature with western school of thoughts. Indian media and cinema is very appealing for neighbouring countries and the West, and contributes a lot to its soft and secular outlook. The vibrant cultural diversity is what makes India incredible and attractive for the western tourists. It also contributes in its soft image across the globe.

Considering the role of the entertainment media, especially Indian cinema, and its soft power dimension, one can argue that in a wider sense Indian media is helping project India globally. The soft power of Indian media can be considered as an adjunct to the foreign and strategic policy of India and having its impact on its key relationship with western states. In other words, the evolution of media has affected the structure of both the international and the domestic system, thus indirectly impacting foreign policy or directly depicting what states want.

The debate varies from state to state, but India is not the ‘Incredible India’ as has been painted through their media. In reality, their political and business motivation sets the shared media content and its outcome. The global perception is more towards agenda setting based on their strategic interests rather than the factual analysis of what really matters.

Thus, the international media perception of India is nothing more than interest-oriented policy layouts and proactive approach for their short and long term political and economic interest that defines their key relationships.

The writer is an Assistant Professor at Centre for South Asian Studies, University of the Punjab