The Indian response, official and unofficial, within the face of Pakistani terrorism – and disinformation – has been as chic as a classic Virat Kohli cowl drive, which is saying one thing as a result of that cowl drive is the closest proof we now have to the existence of a better being, very similar to a Lionel Messi shoulder drop and a Roger Federer down-the-line backhand. From PM Modi’s speech to the official press conferences, each response has been measured, calculated with a contact of sophistication. Take DGMO Rajiv Ghai’s chic comment from a classic Ashes sequence to clarify the surgical precision of India’s aerial offence: “Mud to mud, ashes to ashes, if Thommo don’t get ya, Lillee should!”The identical may very well be mentioned for India’s unofficial response which could be summed up with: Mud to mud, hashtag to ashes, if Okay-pop followers don’t get you, then Beer Biceps should. Very like Pepsi’s World Cup slogan of 1999, there was nothing official about it, nevertheless it undoubtedly struck a chord.For these dwelling below a rock, the Indian web, usually, is a dwelling embodiment of VS Naipaul’s A Million Mutinies Now.There are hundreds of thousands of fights happening on the identical time. There’s Kohli vs Rohit, BTS vs Blackpink, Messi vs Ronaldo, Ranbir vs Ranveer followers, Salman vs SRK, ChatGPT vs Gemini, Trads vs Raytas, BJP vs Congress IT Cells – however all internecine fights had been put to relaxation amid the siren name of warfare and Indians turned unhinged canine of warfare towards anybody attempting to push Pakistan’s narrative: Pakistanis with VPNs who had been on Twitter, YouTube channels pushing the Pakistani agenda, and even mainstream publications pushing Pakistan’s narrative with none truth checks.Very like the totally different warfare cries of every division of the infantry, each fan group had its say. It was the web model of the portal scene from Avengers: Endgame as Indians of all ilk turned up for responsibility.Truth checkers spent day and night time taking down pretend Pakistani movies. OSINT consultants buried Pak lies in actual time, even forcing mainstream media to test its sources.Soccer followers puzzled if Pakistan was the Arsenal of the world.Journey influencers requested of us to keep away from international locations like Turkey or Azerbaijan which brazenly supported Pakistan and as an alternative gave alternate options.Hackers took down widespread Pakistani Twitter handles together with the Karachi port one.On Instagram, the viral Khan Chacha decapitated Pakistan’s weapons with the humour that we now have come to anticipate from the enlightened land of Buddha.And when Pakistanis abused Indian Muslims, probably the most hardcore right-wingers hit again – with language so unparliamentary and so unpublishable – that it could make Sardar Khan blush.However maybe probably the most stunning to informal observers was the ferocity of Okay-pop followers who’re probably the most motivated group of stans on the web, which makes each different fan group seem like genteel and toothless crones. Usually preoccupied with fan cams and Melon charts, they unleashed a digital blitzkrieg below the Tricolour. Sriya Lenka, India’s first Okay-pop idol, posted a tribute to Indian forces. Their memes landed with the power of a Jungkook drop-kick. After which lastly, Ranveer Allahabadia (BeerBiceps) discovered his redemption arc after the ill-advised (and plagiarised incest joke) as he despatched Pakistanis packing on the Piers Morgan present. Maybe, they thought that the favored podcaster could be a light-weight amid a former defence minister however Allahabadia greater than held his floor.As a result of what the BrahMos and S-400 do on the battlefield, the Indian web simply did in our on-line world. Just like the Sudarshan Chakra – precision, devastation, zero lag. Like Tejas flying sorties by way of troll timelines, like Arjun tanks rolling by way of pretend narratives, like INS Vikrant launching meme strikes from digital waters. This was Agni-level assertion with Akash-level accuracy. No latency. No apologies. India’s digital defence is now formally world-class.However there’s nothing remotely stunning concerning the unity of Indians.Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen wrote in Id & Violence: “There could be a nice number of classes to which we concurrently belong. I could be, on the identical time, an Asian, an Indian citizen, a Bengali with Bangladeshi ancestry, an American or British resident, an economist, a dabbler in philosophy, an creator, a Sanskritist, a robust believer in secularism and democracy, a person, a feminist, a heterosexual, a defender of homosexual and lesbian rights, with a nonreligious way of life, from a Hindu background, a non-Brahmin, and a non-believer within the afterlife. That is only a small pattern of numerous classes to every of which I could concurrently belong – there are, in fact, an incredible many different membership classes too which, relying on circumstances, can transfer and interact me.”Now multiply that by 1.46 billion, and also you get the complexity of being Indian. A rustic of 1.46 billion folks from totally different races, ethnicities, languages, creeds, castes, and religions, who take part in a panchayat to parliament democracy, who’ve by no means seen an issue with a altering of the guards.India is probably the most distinctive experiment that has existed.Nowhere on the planet have so many individuals lived collectively peacefully. In distinction stands Pakistan: the sibling state that was reduce from the identical colonial fabric however turned itself right into a uniformed theocracy. In 75 years, not a single Prime Minister has accomplished a full time period. Navy coups are seasonal, and terror teams are simply one other wing of the state.A rustic of India’s magnitude will all the time have inner strife and fights. However when the time comes, Indians of all ilk will unite.Earlier than the web, the world may get away with mendacious claims.
As an outdated African proverb goes: “Till the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall all the time glorify the hunter.”However now, the lion has WiFi. And while you go looking, the lion will get you. And if it could actually’t, the Okay-pop stans will.