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@article{188712,
        author = {Dr. Rajiv Ranjan},
        title = {Censorship, Nationalism, and the Politics of Fear: An Orwellian Reading of Current India},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {7},
        pages = {3187-3191},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=188712},
        abstract = {The vocabulary of patriotism in today’s India has grown heavier, more guarded, and urgently emotional. This shift is not merely political; it is psychological, shaping how ordinary people speak, remember, and participate in public life. When nationalism becomes a measure of loyalty rather than belonging, the atmosphere begins to resemble Orwell’s warning: a nation where the state does not need to silence everyone because citizens begin doing it themselves. Censorship, in this moment, is not only a law or a ban; it is a feeling—a tightening in the chest before posting a comment, a hesitation before questioning power, a pause before naming injustice. It enters homes, classrooms, newsrooms, and friendships, altering the grammar of everyday speech. In such a climate, narratives are curated to produce unity, but the cost of that unity is interior compliance. Media cycles repeat selective truths, dissidents are framed as destabilising elements, and national pride is tied to singular interpretations of culture and identity. What appears patriotic on the surface slowly becomes a tool of emotional regulation: love the nation in this way, at this volume, and with this vocabulary—or risk being perceived as against it. The politics of fear works not through dramatic repression but through the quiet erosion of confidence in one’s voice. This is where the Orwellian echo grows unmistakable. Fear no longer shouts; it whispers, persuades, and normalises. Citizens withdraw from debate not because they lack conviction, but because they sense that disagreement carries a personal cost—professional, social, or digital. The true danger is not that free speech disappears overnight, but that society forgets what free speech looks like, feels like, and demands. To read India through Orwell today is to ask not whether the state controls truth, but how easily truth can be reshaped when a nation equates silence with loyalty and conformity with patriotic love.},
        keywords = {Nation, Pride, Love, Censorship, Emotion, Unity, Truth, Media},
        month = {December},
        }