Sanskaari

There are India’s haves and have-nots, according to the Marxists. There are the nationalists and anti-nationals (refer to point one in this article). And then there are the haloed sanskaris and the rest.

Ushered into the limelight since Modi’s rise, or perhaps a little before that, this bunch is everything that the ideal Indian ought to be—traditional, religious, obedient, hardworking, nationalistic, patriarchal, teetotaler, truthful, disciplined, yoga enthusiast, homely… you get the drift.

Technically the word means cultured, but in India’s current context, it just means to be a BJP supporter. It is not clear who coined it, but as a term used to mock the typical Modi fan, it flew.

But even sanskaari doesn’t beat the devotee.

Bhakt

The ultimate insult to a Modi fan, it refers to someone who blindly believes that the Hindutva strongman is the long-awaited messiah.

This list is certainly not exhaustive. Terms like troll, swachh (clean), gau rakshak (cow protector/vigilante), news trader, presstitute, and libtard (apparently a liberal retard) are much in currency. Just that we have already bored you with too many. For more, log onto Twitter and tweet “India loves Narendra Modi/Rahul Gandhi.” You can thank us later.

We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.

Read Quartz’s coverage of the 2019 Indian general election here.

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