2025, Vol. 7, Issue 11, Part B

Author(s): Heena Dhariwal

Abstract: Background: Since 2014, WhatsApp has become a central infrastructure for political communication in India, particularly within Hindu nationalist ecosystems in North India. While existing scholarship highlights the affective and participatory dimensions of Hindutvas digital publics, there is limited longitudinal, empirical evidence on how WhatsApp network structures shape grassroots mobilisation and the circulation of problematic content. Methods: This mixed-methods study analysed 42 Hindu nationalist WhatsApp networks (613 groups) across four North Indian states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi-NCR) between 2014 and 2024. Data included archived group message logs (1, 246, 318 messages), group metadata, and semi-structured interviews and surveys with 612 group members. Messages were coded for format, thematic frame, affective tone, mobilisation cues, and information quality. Network measures (density, degree centralisation, forwarding velocity) were constructed, and multivariate regression models assessed associations between network characteristics, offline mobilisation, and exposure to misleading or polarising content. Results: Networks were structurally dense and highly centralised, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Image memes and short videos constituted over half of all content, with religion/identity and leadership frames dominating, and pride and humour emerging as primary affective tones. Overall, 16.8% of messages contained explicit mobilisation cues and 22.3% called for sharing/forwarding. High-centralisation networks exhibited significantly higher levels of rally attendance, door-to-door canvassing, donations, and daily sharing, as well as markedly higher proportions of misleading (18.6% vs 8.7%) and polarising content (15.7% vs 6.5%) than low-centralisation networks. Network centralisation, forwarding velocity and mobilisation message density independently predicted high mobilisation in regression models. Conclusion: Hindu nationalist WhatsApp networks in North India operate as tightly organised infrastructures that effectively convert everyday digital participation into offline mobilisation, but this organisational capacity is strongly intertwined with the amplification of misleading and polarising content. These findings underscore the need for party-level accountability mechanisms, context-sensitive platform design and regulation, and targeted media literacy and research agendas that treat WhatsApp as a core political infrastructure rather than a peripheral communication tool.

DOI: 10.33545/27068919.2025.v7.i11b.1761

Pages: 100-106 | Views: 147 | Downloads: 76

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