Mediated recolonization: Hindutva’s hyperreal politics in post-Pahalgam India

While online technologies were once hailed as tools of democratization and global connectivity, scholars increasingly argue that they now serve as platforms for constructing exclusionary national identities. That said, at the core of this debate, two fundamental questions remain unresolved: How do online news narratives reproduce colonial hierarchies of power and perception? In what ways does nationalist discourse in online news media transform political conflict into a hyperreal performance of sovereignty and identity? To address these questions, this study investigates the 2025 Pahalgam attack as a case through which to understand how Hindutva's nationalism—as articulated in online news discourse—reconstructs the colonial logic of rule through mediated representations. Drawing on Jean Baudrillard's theory of Simulacra and Simulation as the primary analytical framework, this article examines how online news media discourse constructs political reality rather than merely reflecting events. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is used to examine how language, narrative framing, and representation in media coverage from The Hindu Bureau, Hindustan Times, and Al Jazeera Journalism Review produce narratives of loyalty, treachery, and national belonging. The study argues that Hindutva's nationalist discourse in online news operates through simulated media narratives that reproduce colonial hierarchies under the guise of national revival.