The Bhakti Of Billions

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar stated, “In India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequaled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship”. 

In the current political scenario with devotional songs made about politicians, worshippers who consider them “God” look at political parties as a symbol of religion instead of development. There’s a difference in trust and worship, trust in politics can be broken on the other hand worship allows glorification in face of blind faith. 

When one cant see flaws in politics, democracy cant prevail. Human error in democracy is fathomable, human humility is to admit to it. Not something to be seen nowadays, rather these worshippers believing a party’s existence will set it right. 

Push comes to shove, not the heroes we put our “Bhakti” in but there will always be certain people regardless of their religious, social, gender, caste, sexual, ethnic identity who will always put humanity above all. Humanity in politics hopefully will steer away the blind from the blind. Blind – not like the lady of justice but the greed of men in power. 

Let’s look at the current political party scenario, there are two major alliances at the national level – the NDA ( National Democratic Alliance ) and INDIA ( Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance ), the ruling party of the NDA is BJP ( Bharatiya Janata Party ) and the INDIA is the main opposition alliance with INC ( Indian National Congress ) in the forefront.

Now when it comes to blind worship, a common word used for people supporting political parties without a basis for themselves are known as “Andh Bhakts”. There seems to be flocks of them across the country and this phenomena applies to more than just one party. 

The BJP ( Bharatiya Janata Party ) is the current ruling party and the one that our Prime Minister – Narendra Modi belongs to. There have been multiple occasions of terminology used to describe him as a divine being or even an incarnation of God. Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister and BJP leader Kamal Patel termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi an “incarnation of God”, like Lord Ram and Lord Krishna and was meant to end the atmosphere caused by atrocities committed by the Congress. “God’s gift to India, messiah of the poor, Modifier of developing India; Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has risen to a new level. Mr. Modi is seen as the leader of the largest democracy on the global scale. With over 18 million Twitter followers and 32 million Facebook likes.”, said the former Vice President of India – Venkaiah Naidu, It is not just Mr Modi’s fellow colleagues but also the common man, in 2015 some supporters built a temple in honor of him which he did disagree with back then. In some instances supporters have altered traditional chants and shlokas in order to include his name. This kind of worship can lead to a blurred perception of the reality we live in and deactivate the innate ability we have as citizens of our country to criticise the state and can lead to the political figure themselves into disillusionment for instance when the Prime Minister himself  has said so multiple times he believed “God had sent him for a purpose”. 

The INC is the opposition when it comes to political ideologies but it cannot be said the same  for belief without a sense of worship. Dynasty politics, which is essentially political dominance passed through generations of family, is something seen throughout the course of Congress rule in the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty. The dynasty begins with Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi first female Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi 7th Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi longest serving President of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi leader of the opposition and Priyanka Gandhi member of the Lok Sabha. It has been speculated that certain supporters have remained supporters simply because of the name Gandhi being passed down and of their blind trust in the dynasty’s capability and has been a debate for a long period. Shankar Rao, a Congress minister from Andhra Pradesh even built a temple in honor of Sonia Gandhi referring to her as “Telangana Talli” in gratitude for the formation of the state of Telangana. Shashi Tharoor a Congress politician claimed dynasty politics as a ‘threat to Democracy’, this seemed like a hypocritical statement to most since that is the very party’s words he preaches. You may be wondering how this is in relation to blind worship but with the involvement of dynasty politics in a group scenario it can always lead to a certain bias caused by the hope that is built by the predecessors. 

These instances don’t only take place on a national basis but throughout the states of India as well. Recently in Tamil Nadu, a political rally Of Vijay Thalapathy a famous actor turned politician took the lives of several of his supporters, it is a common occurrence for actors to turn politicians especially in this particular state but extremities have consequences and this is living proof that when one is blinded in the sense of literal hero worship it can have a serious aftermath. Bihar’s current Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made several controversial statements about modern women’s clothing, their personal lifestyle choices and relationships with men and the 2025 state elections had a high turnout of women voters for this politician since he promised pro-women policies while he will continue to make such statements about them. 

Lists could be made about the hundreds of times where blind worship prevailed over genuine democracy, it is critical to understand that an opponent of blind worship is not biased towards a certain political party. This phenomenon occurs across all forms of politics and is a very easy hole to be dug into, one must be aware of their knowledge and rights before their beliefs.

And I will dream nights and days, a thousand moons even of a country where our democracy does not discriminate and feed on the vulnerabilities of our differences.