Some say the word "bhakt" should not be used to imply blind supporters of a political party. I think it is necessary. Here is why. A thing that many people don't realise about why the Right Wing rose to power in 2014 is that being "cool" had a lot to do with it. It was THE thing.

The party everyone was going. The label everyone was slapping on their forehead in an attempt to belong. Humans are tribal animals and we form communities instinctively. And when we do, we also create anchors to ground the community so it won't disintegrate. These anchors are...

...often labels that empower and situate members firmly within the community. Labels like "soldier" and "warrior" and "proud" this or "brave" that. These labels were a large part of why the young flocked towards the ideology of the Right. They wanted to be able to call...

...themselves these things. By contrast, Liberal communities did not pay attention to their community anchors. They left it to the Right Wing. And the labels the Right applied to them were "deshdrohi" and "corrupt" and "stupid". The results are clear to see. However, six years...

...later, there are some additional labels that have managed to stick to the Right Wing. These are not complimentary. These aren't thing the average Right Winger can feel proud of. In fact, he responds with great annoyance to labels like "bhakt". Sure, some take it on the chin...

...and say things like "proud bhakt". But that's just bluster. In truth, it hurts. Labels and badges can make a cultural space attractive. But they can also be used to make it inhospitable. For example, "Congress-supporter" is a label that many don't want. So they start...

...sentences with "I'm not a Congress-supporter but..." even when making a perfectly agnostic point. The label "bhakt" matters because it is a way to make the Right Wing cultural space unattractive and uncool. The aim is to make folks start sentences with "I'm not a bhakt but..."

And when that happens, there will be other cultural spaces waiting for them to become parts of. Of course, these other spaces can't be based solely on people's distaste for the word "bhakt". They will need to have their own vocabulary, labels, and badges to be cool.