State of Confusion: Why the Modi government lies – By Suchitra Vijayan

From 10 to 12 September, academics from various US universities organised an online conference titled “Dismantling Global Hindutva.”… In the lead-up to the event, pro-Hindutva groups began an unprecedented disinformation campaign and targeted attacks against the organisers and participants. Academic conferences rarely receive mainstream global attention, but in this case the vicious response made the world take note.

…. An academic conference curated to understand Hindutva was quickly rebranded by right-wing groups as “Hinduphobic.” Over the years, Hinduphobia has been used as a smokescreen in the West to deflect any critical questions asked of the Narendra Modi government and its ideological parent, the RSS—including over escalating violence against India’s minorities under Modi’s rule, India’s caste system, the RSS’s Hindu-supremacist moorings and its rise in the United States.

During the conference, videos of panellists were maliciously edited and circulated, and troll armies attacked speakers on social media, threatening them with dire consequences. Anonymous online accounts spread fake news calling the conference “a hit job against India” that was part of a “larger conspiracy.”…  There were falsehoods floated around that Polis was funded and supported by groups such as Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, and that the organisation was part of a global conspiracy aimed at “targeting Hindutva & Hinduism.”…

https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/why-modi-government-lies