THE DYNAMICS OF CYBER NATIONALISM IN INDIA'S MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT: SOCIAL MEDIA AS A CATALYST FOR CONFLICT

Abstract

Cyber nationalism has emerged as a powerful force in India’s rapidly digitizing society, transforming how national identity, conflict, and multiculturalism are negotiated online. This paper examines how social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp shape the circulation of nationalist discourse between 2014 and 2024, and how this, in turn, impacts India’s multicultural cohesion. Using a qualitative, secondary-data-based design, the study analyses archived social media content, fact-checking reports, news coverage, and scholarly literature through thematic analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis.

The findings show, first, that platform affordances—algorithmic curation, virality, and networked visibility—amplify emotionally charged nationalist content, especially memetic nationalism, which reduces complex political issues into highly shareable slogans, images, and memes. Second, cyber nationalism in India is deeply entangled with Hindu majoritarian identity, normalising Hindutva narratives and marginalising religious minorities through othering, historical revisionism, and civilizational frames. Third, digital propaganda and misinformation, including coordinated campaigns and computational propaganda, play a central role in escalating communal tensions during crises such as the CAA-NRC protests and episodes of communal violence.

At the same time, the study identifies counter-narratives and digital counterpublics that promote constitutional values, secularism, and pluralism. However, these efforts are structurally disadvantaged by algorithmic bias, harassment, and the discursive dominance of majoritarian nationalism. The paper argues that while social media has democratised political expression, it has also intensified identity-based polarisation, threatening India’s ideal of unity in diversity. It concludes by outlining policy recommendations on digital governance, platform accountability, and digital literacy to mitigate the harms of cyber nationalism while enabling more inclusive, multicultural digital publics.