The millions of BJP fans come in different shades in terms of their depth of support for the party. It starts from the basic BJP supporters, who vote for the BJP because they like BJP’s policies and leadership. Then come the BJP fans, who often praise the BJP more often than they praise other parties. The next level is the bhakt, a much-used terms that literally means devotee. The bhakts love the BJP. They have full faith in the BJP to deliver what is best for the nation. Hence, even if there is a BJP misstep, the bhakt will give BJP the benefit of doubt and believe the party will deliver in the end. Finally, there’s the hardcore category of BJP fans – the ultrabhakts. They are the staunchest, loudest, most aggressive and the most devoted brand of supporters – the ultrabhakts. This article focuses on the ultrabhakts, right now the biggest problem for the BJP.
Ultrabhakts weren’t always a problem. They were an asset. For only the BJP has fans so devout, vocal, and headstrong. It is great to have a loyal, militant fan base which is the envy of other parties. Ultrabhakts are not only voters, but they are also free salespeople and cheerleaders for the party. In good times, when the party is on the up, ultrabhakts are amazing. They help amplify the party’s message. They also make the party leadership feel like an invincible rockstar. We all love praise, and ultrabhakts give it buckets for free. However, if the party succumbs to the ultrabhakt praise, the party starts to believe that they are perfect. That nothing can ever go wrong now. Remember yesteryears movie stars who had rabid fans – the adulation reaches a level where they can’t think straight. All this remains relatively harmless while the going is good. However, in bad times, when there is a crisis (and life is never without a crisis) ultrabhakts become a liability. Since the June election results, the political arithmetic of the land has reconfigured. The BJP remains the biggest, dominant party in the nation by seats and vote share. The BJP is far from being defeated. However, the party has seen declines, unexpected setbacks, partial loss of the public opinion narrative and is now in an NDA-alliance government. These trends must be reversed to restore the BJP at the high standards set by them. This requires a period of circumspection, humility, gathering feedback, re-connecting with voters, and obtaining a full picture of what is really going on. Then the BJP needs to adapt to cater to the current day voter. This is a difficult, slow, and painful process. It involves difficult conversations, nuance, empathy, and an entire reinvention of sorts.
The problem is ultrabhakts jump into this process, clueless about what is really going on and upset about their dear party being examined. They start abusing, shaming, ridiculing, and attacking anyone who attempts to give the party genuine feedback on social media, TV, or any other forum.
This article is written with a sense of concern and caring towards the BJP, one of our leading political parties. However, one can guarantee that the author of this piece will be attacked. For suggesting introspection and saying anything other than songs of praise for the party. Ultrabhakts are loud, have little to lose (as they often don’t have much going on in their life) and given the way social media algorithms work, their extreme voice gets most visibility on social media, drowning all sane feedback. And what do the ultrabhakts want? Quite the opposite of humility and introspection. They would rather the BJP double down and go extra hard on its opponents and anyone who does not vote for them. The ultrabhakts, believe it or not, have a huge problem with the ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’ BJP slogan. Ultrabhakts believe BJP should only work for its voters and tell everybody else to get lost. The ultrabhakts also feel anyone giving feedback to the party is motivated, stupid, jealous, or evil and deserves abuse. Some way to come out of a crisis!
Hopefully, the BJP top brass realizes this limitation of the ultrabhakts. While loyal as hell and worth keeping, ultrabhakts cannot be taken seriously to resolve a crisis. The BJP can occasionally acknowledge and soothe the ultrabhakts’ feelings, but the real action plan to get BJP vote shares to climb back up should not come from ultrabhakts. Instead, it is time now for the BJP to turn to their normal, rational supporters. People who care for the party, even if they have non-praise feedback. In terms of specific and actionable things to do, the BJP would do well to shuffle some spokespersons and social media handlers to people who have a more humble, curious, and receptive to feedback personality. BJP biggest strength, which made them the biggest party globally, isn’t rigidity, it is adaptability.
Meanwhile, some advice for the ultrabhakts, even though they are unlikely to read this (or anything in general). Do some self-inquiry on what makes you this way. Refresh your social media feeds, the people you follow, to have a diverse set of views. More than anything, find your own purpose in life so that you can do better things with your own life.