Fiction created by propagandists being passed on as history, says JNU V-C

JNU V-C criticizes propagandists passing fiction as history to children, warns against biased media coverage, at journalism college event.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit has claimed that the fiction created by a section of propagandists in the country is being passed on to children “as authoritative history sanctioned by the Nehruvian consensus.”

She was here on Thursday (April 17, 2025) to attend the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi College of Mass Communication, a journalism college affiliated with the JNU. Twelve students were presented with postgraduate diploma certificates in journalism.

Ms. Pandit said that in India, the expert had been quietly replaced by the propagandist, who “unashamedly plays havoc with our history. Instead of facts, he uses all the propaganda techniques in creating a fiction which he passes on to our children as authoritative history sanctioned by the Nehruvian consensus.”

She said that instead of teaching historical assertions based on facts, the propagandist was trying to create a picture of the past based on hearsay, conjectures, and outright lies. “The techniques they use include ad-nauseam, ad-hocism, appeal to authority and prejudice, bandwagoning, big lies, cherry-picking, classical conditioning, disinformation, euphemism, exaggeration, glittering generalities, guilt by association, half-truths, intentional vagueness, labelling, loaded language, over-simplification, testimonials, third-party techniques, unstated assumptions, thought-terminating cliches, and transfer association,” she added. Ms. Pandit claimed that, in contrast to the Indian heritage, foreign invaders and their religions were being presented in glowing terms.

Ms. Pandit pointed out that newspapers, TV channels, and OTT platforms were “guided or driven by profit motive, and thinly concealed by a veneer of public interest and very little on public opinion or freedom of expression”. She said that most newspapers clearly took a biased view. “It is high time you made a departure from the excessive preoccupation with the actions and utterances of political VIPs. Most of the newspapers have headlines only about the VIPs and others. There are a lot of fake narratives, which the newspapers begin,” she said. J. Nandakumar, national coordinator, Prajna Pravah, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh front organisation, and A.L. Reeta Sony, Associate Professor, JNU, among others, were present.