Pandemic, Demagoguery, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Vol. 30 - 2023, No. 1

Guest Edited by Robert L. Ivie

The Soft Homogenisation of Democracy in India: Studying the Role and Long-Term Impact of Right-Wing Demagoguery During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Siddharth Dubey, pages: 96-110

The de-focalisation of reporting and the focalisation of post-truth ideology is antithetical to the tenets of democracy. It reverts to the traditional centralised propagation of one truth, one reality, and one perspective while contracting, negating, or antagonising the possibility of alternative and parallel narratives. The right wing has created a narrative of suspicion, which is based on the conviction that anything deviating from the traditional cultural patterns is a contamination of the ethos of one’s own native values, a deviation from the nativity, and hence an influence that needs to be disposed of. The ongoing Covid pandemic has magnified the narrative of post-truth through the use of sensationalism as an effective modus operandi. The blinding of the truth is rampant as news outlets are being guarded by right-wing gatekeepers and sensationalism is used to reflect the surging emotions of a public already gripped by a precarious reality. This paper examines the three primary and seemingly independent threats to democracy during the pandemic in India: de-focalisation of reporting, coerced homogeneity based on religion and language, and sensationalism. It addresses the question of how adversity is turned into a breeding ground for demagoguery.

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