Two curiously different narratives have been offered in parallel to the Indian public with respect to the recent strikes on Pakistan.

The first, as reflected in the name of the operation, “Sindoor”, is designed to both reiterate the religious nature of the Pahalgam killings and draw on distinctly gendered Hindu imagery in the response.

The second — a carefully crafted more secular nationalist narrative — was reflected in the [Indian] Ministry of External Affairs’ (MEA) briefing. It was led by two female officers — one Hindu and one Muslim — and included a statement by the foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, reiterating that, while the aim of the Pahalgam attack had been to divide the nation on communal lines, the Indian government and its people had risen to the challenge and refused to be divided.

Dual narratives have been a steady feature of Indian foreign policy in recent years.

One narrative — typically the more religiously polarising one — is enthusiastically run for supporters of the ruling party, led by online influencers and the Indian television media, and usually takes its cues directly from the rhetoric of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The dissonance between the cultural symbolism entrenched in the name of this operation and the more calculated nationalist narrative put forth by the Indian state suggests that the BJP does not believe that religious nationalism alone will be enough to manufacture consent for armed conflict

The second, usually a more sober sounding narrative, is run by the MEA through their official diplomatic channels. For example, in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, Prime Minister Modi, in a strongly worded post on X, called the attacks terrorism and offered solidarity with Israel. This was the position that Indian newsrooms and influencers ran with, together with graphic anti-Palestinian imagery. The MEA, meanwhile, barely deviated from their historical, more neutral position, including by remaining noncommittal on Israeli demands to recognise Hamas as a terrorist organisation in India and urging both sides to resume diplomacy.

But while, typically, the more polarising narrative is the only one offered for domestic consumption, the inclusion of a more secular........

© Dawn (Magazines)