The rise of internet and social media has led to a strange new discovery in India. It is the strong and distinctive presence of a cyber species often referred to as ‘bhakts’. The term is used to refer to owners of right wing user accounts who tend to be aggressive fans of all things Hindu.
Politically they often lend their support to BJP, seen as a somewhat pro-Hindu organisation. They are extremely protective of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They also like old Hindu kings and conspiracy theories about how Hindus were shortchanged in the past – they often swap such stories online.
These true bhakts would have been an interesting anthropological phenomenon, had they not been causing distress from time to time on Twitter. A few years ago, Sagarika Ghose coined the term Internet Hindus when they attacked her. Just a couple of weeks back, members of the true bhakt species attacked outspoken women on Twitter who didn’t think much about the rather sweet and harmless ‘selfie with daughter’ campaign that was backed by the PM.
So who are these true bhakts? What drives them? And what can we – and more important, they – do to calm them down? For this, it is important to understand them.
One, these true bhakts are not just Hindu fanatics. They are not all VHP members. Some of them don’t even identify with the Hindu cause, they call themselves nationalists instead. Their stated aim, if you are to believe them, is nation building and winning back for India its lost glory.
In reality, they are neither Hindu warriors nor nationalists. Typically, and at the cost of stereotyping, true bhakts have the following four traits in common. First, they are almost all male. Second, they have weak communication skills, particularly in English. This in turn leads to a bit of an inferiority complex, of not being cool or sophisticated enough in a fast changing, globalising world.
Third, they are generally not good at talking to women. As a result they are unlikely to know how to behave with them or woo them. They do desire women, but can’t get them. In other words, if i may say so, they are sexually frustrated with no way of getting it.
Fourth, there is an over-riding sense of shame about being Hindu, Hindi speaking and/ or Indian. Deep down they know that Hindi-speaking Hindus are among India’s poorest. They also know that India is a third world country with third rate infrastructure and few achievements on the world stage in science, sports, defence or creativity.
To hide this shame, they over-compensate in terms of chest-beating nationalism. Also, to them, BJP leaders and Modi in particular represent the highest aspirational figures. Modi is unabashedly from the Hindi/ Hindu/ modest-means background and represents the best people like them can be.
Modi’s success gives true bhakts a genuine reason to rejoice and feel that they have a place at the top. Hence, protecting him is vital. Therefore, you have seen true bhakts defending Modi’s silence on various scams and vigorously attacking anyone questioning the PM. Objectivity is lost when the person they are trying to protect and worship is seen as an idealisation of their own kind.
Hence, an inferiority complex ridden Indian male who is sexually frustrated, ashamed of his background and has poor ability in English is vulnerable to transforming into a true bhakt. And that’s why confident, English-speaking women who oppose Modi hit a raw nerve on all counts and get the worst of the true bhakt treatment.
Since social media allows anonymity, their anger expresses itself as the worst personal abuse. Note that BJP never invited these true bhakts to worship them. In fact the PM had to tell them off, as even he seems to have had enough of their hyper-aggressive bhakti.
Of course, at the end of the day, easy votes are welcome and BJP doesn’t mind them. However, BJP must distance itself from this unrestrained testosterone. What seems like support starts to look unsavoury pretty soon and cements the hard line image of the party. Ultimately, the Indian voter will get scared and go back to its default party – Congress. There’s a reason Congress ruled for 60 years and BJP has just about crossed six.
Meanwhile what can we do? The best strategy is to not take true bhakts too seriously. Of course, it is difficult to ignore personal abuse. But try to understand their motivations. They are not Modi bhakts; they are simply Frustrated And Complex-ridden Indian Males (FACIMs, pronounced fai-kims, not to be confused with the curse word you may want to use on them). Of course FACIM doesn’t have the same ring to it as bhakt, but it is a more accurate descriptor.
To FACIMs themselves i would only like to say this. Smarten up, learn English and practise it. Make some female friends and ask their advice on how to talk to a girl. When confident, try to ask someone out and date her like a gentleman. Who knows, you may get lucky soon. Once you do, trust me, you will have better things to do than abuse on Twitter. Good luck!