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28 Mar, 2014

Narendra Modi cult threatens to swamp even his own organisation – Hindustan Times

Dravidian politics is full of blind hero worship of leaders. Devoted followers do not just believe in a leader but venerate him/her. The mega cutouts, the temples, the almost tribal rituals create a larger than life personality which then dwarfs everyone and everything around it. A signal from the Supreme Being can send the hordes into a tizzy. In the eyes of the disciple, the leader can do no wrong — if the circumstances conspire against him, the follower is ready to even lay down his life.

Such a cult has now emerged at the national level. The publicity blitz, the hero worship of millions of fans, the constant chants of Modi, Modi and the dwarfing of the party are unprecedented. If ever Modi walked out of the BJP, they would follow him willingly. For a party that has always claimed to be cadre- and ideology-based rather than personality-driven, this cannot but be a source of worry. But neither the BJP nor its mentor, the RSS, has any choice — they created him, and now they have to keep silent and watch him grow and grow beyond their influence. The Modi cult threatens to swamp not just the opposition, but even his own organisation.

Read the rest: Narendra Modi cult threatens to swamp even his own organisation – Hindustan Times.