A country hungry for war.
Good lord, you guys don't know the half of it. Hell, I don't know the half of it, given how much I'm avoiding the Indian television media.
At this point, Pakistan and 'terrorism' have practically become synonyms. The fight against terror in India is essentially a fight against Pakistan. There is a narrative being spun that India has been hobbled by liberals and "anti-nationals", and that Modi is the true Hindu champion who will end both them and Pakistan.
The BJP and the RSS' long-standing propaganda has pretty much seeped into the Indian mainstream thanks to a rapid rise of social media. The notion is that for thousands of years, "India" has suffered at the hands of foreign powers, particularly Muslims. The continued terrorist attacks in India are seen as a continuation of that victimhood, of a foreign Muslim power killing Indians.
There is a very strong narrative being spun that Modi's election has heralded a "New India" that is badass and prepared to take no shit from anyone. This falls well in line with the RSS' vision for a "Hindu awakening" with which to avenge India's history. Indians are thirsty for clout and power. They don't just have imperialistic sentiments at this point, but don't even see anything wrong with imperialism. There's a desperate desire to become a superpower at all costs, and if that means trampling on others, then that's fine because "China, US, Russia, UK did that too".
Images, complete with dramatic background songs, of fallen Indian security personnel have been playing on TV. There's a lot of supposed sympathy for the soldiers, which is really a mask for India's pride and ego being hurt. That's really all it boils down to, the question of "How could they do this to
us and get away with it?"
Indian movies for the past half-decade or so have become intensely nationalistic, depicting an India that is prepared to restore its fallen pride by taking out terrorists (that is to say, Pakistan).
News channels are baying for blood. I've seen people compare them to Fox News, but I honestly find that comparison laughable given how utterly tame Fox News is. Saying that Indian news channels are Fox News on "steroids" is like saying a crocodile is basically a big gecko. News
reporters (not even analysts) are laughing and celebrating with the locals, repeating slogans from a recent war film, casually commenting on how Pakistan should be broken up into four.
The scariest part is the India is
not an authoritarian state with state-controlled media. It's a democracy with free speech, and despite that, this propaganda is running wild and free thanks to greedy news channels out for television ratings. The government is giving them a pass, no doubt, but the thirst for war and 'revenge' is definitely coming out of the people itself.