Hindu nationalism has been the dominant force in Indian politics over the past decade. The government of Narendra Modi, a right-wing populist leader, often confuses religion with politics and has used allegations of anti-Hindu bigotry to dismiss criticism of his administration and the prime minister.
In January, the government invoked emergency powers to ban the broadcast of a BBC documentary titled India: the Modi questionwhich investigated Modi’s role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat, where he was chief minister. These riots resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. Twitter and YouTube were ordered to remove clips from the documentary.
Encouraged by the government’s stance, right-wing commentators are quick to portray India’s Hindu majority as constantly under threat and discriminated against.
“Commentators are doing their job, which is to stir up communal issues in the country under any pretext, no matter how stupid,” says Hartosh Singh Bal, editor-in-chief of The caravana political and cultural magazine. “Not only is the government pushing the narrative, but these commentators are also creating their own environment around them… They thrive on such controversies because it keeps them relevant and gives them some importance. »
“The discourse in India is unbalanced,” says Aakar Patel, journalist and former head of Amnesty International’s India office, adding that there is no logic to what is being dragged into the culture war.
So far, there has been no official call to ban ChatGPT, and the government has not weighed in on the controversy, but companies that find themselves caught up in these political storms face fallout, making some nervous potential users.
“The majority of my buyers are Hindu. I don’t know their love or hatred for science, but I won’t risk offending them with controversial software,” says Zaid, a Delhi-based entrepreneur who asked to be identified by his first name only to avoid backlash. customers. . He added that he “will absolutely not put anything like ChatGPT for his online business.”
In 2020, a jewelry company called Tanishq became the target of an online protest campaign after publishing an advertisement depicting a mixed-race family. Radical Hindu groups called for a boycott and the company pulled the ad. In 2021, clothing and lifestyle company Fabindia promoted a range of clothing for the Hindu festival Diwali using an Urdu phrase (a language primarily associated with Muslims in India and Pakistan). Within hours, #boycottFabindia was trending on Twitter. The brand relented, removed the advertising and renamed the clothing line.
