Across the world, the profile of political leadership has changed dramatically in recent years, from The Philippines to the United States, often focused on a single political leader charisma. Nuzhat Tariq looks at this phenomenon of cultocracy in the context of Pakistan and India, drawing parallels between the two whilst arguing that such tendencies challenge the basic tenets of democracy.

The past 10 years have experienced a political cult mania in South Asia, especially in Pakistan and India, two arch rivals facing an identical dilemma. From Ram Mandir to Riyasat-e Madina, rhetorical hypnosis has significantly shaped the mindset of millions of its respective citizens, especially Gen Z. The exaggerated popularity of two populist leaders, Imran Khan and Narendra Modi, has created the possibility of probable cultocracy in the subcontinent, and could potentially rewrite the engagement of an entire generation with the polity and the state.

The results of the general election in 2024 in both Pakistan (February) and India (April–June) have drawn attention to the cultocracy in the subcontinent. For Pakistan’s populist leader Imran Khan (Pakistan Tehreek-i Insaf (PTI) party) — the glorified ‘Qaidi no. 804’ (Khan’s ongoing imprisonment is referred to as Prisoner no. 804) — an almost delusional allegiance is still prevalent among his overly sentimental supporters. His cultic following, including the recent events in Islamabad, has drawn attention to the rationality dilemma among the youth (just as in India). Narendra Modi’s election campaign in the recent elections propagated his agenda: ‘Modi ka Parivar’ (lit., ‘Modi’s Family’), ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ (lit., ‘Modi’s Guarantee’), seeking an absolute majority in Parliament. However, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was unable to win as many seats as they had hoped for, and caused a dent on ‘Brand Modi’. Nonetheless, his consecutive third term signifies the inception of a possible cultocracy.

The rhetorical public speeches of both leaders have convinced the electorate in the two countries to indulge in obsessive partyism/cult disorder. Equally, both leaders seem to have led the youth  towards a non-pragmatic mindset, devoid of critical thinking.

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There are parallels between both narratives, where the leaders were put on pedestals because of their populist slogans and promises, evidently hampering the dispassionate, intellectual acumen of the people. The most prominent parallel is the grossly exaggerated narrative about their past lives to establish a direct connection among voters. One tries to resonate with the common voter by recalling his tea-seller past (Modi in India) and the other narrates his broken marital life for the sake of his country (Khan in Pakistan). Both portray themselves as saviours for their country. Their deliberated fallacies trap the non-skeptical and overly sentimental minds, seemingly creating hordes of semi- or fully-educated Gen Z goofballs on both sides of the border.

The populist political speeches to the masses gradually erode and numb the commonsense morality and ethics Gen Z. The leaders’ personal/ideological political agendas disguised as ‘national’ agendas further their cult-like status among the youth. Speeches openly defame, discredit and question the moral and individual integrity of their political rivals, the chronic and consistent delivery of which seems to have had a tremendous impact on Gen Z’s mindset. Taken together, Gen Z seems confidently to be on the way to creating unquestionable loyalty to these leaders by not acknowledging the reality of this cult mania.

The role of technology, especially social media — the touchstone of Gen Z information and knowledge-gathering —  plays a huge part in this numbing of critical political thinking and the intensification of mass hysteria. Digital campaigning, the ultimate propaganda tool of the 21^st century, is the first step in accelerating the cult phenomenon in both countries, spreading messages almost at the speed of light: its audience comprises around 116 million people in India and 69 million in Pakistan are Gen Z. Both the PTI and BJP’s digital maestros understood the real strength of the media, and its efficacy in grabbing attention. The catchy slogans (often derogatory) memes about political rivals, sympathetic reels and strategic hashtags have served as the pillars of the party’s success in actualising this cult revolution. Ironically, in the pursuit of becoming more politically aware, Gen Z has become the primary prey digital strategies, in defiance of critical political engagement and thinking.

Recent protests in Bangladesh have signaled another twist in political cult phenomena in South Asia. Social media in Pakistan was flooded with posts comparing the students of Bangladesh and Pakistan, latently acting as a trigger for Pakistani students to agitate similarly to demand the release of PTI leader Imran Khan, and creating instability again in the country. Here, the naïve Pakistani Gen Z has once again failed to recognise the fawning sycophancy and meaningless propaganda by cult loyalists: there is a wide gap between the protests in Bangladesh and  the 9 May 2023 riots in Pakistan. The protests in Bangladesh were aimed at bringing meritocracy to the political system, provoked by yet another unpopular policy of the Awami League (AL) government to reserve jobs for particular groups identified as loyal to the AL.

On the other hand, the riots on 9 May in Pakistan were the outcome of indiscipline and chaos by the cult mongers. Every aspect of the riots rose on the political/party agenda rather than ‘national’ agenda though PTI loyalists continue to say that the riot was orchestrated by power brokers and political rivals of Imran Khan. To deduce any rationale from this is unfeasible, yet Gen Z continues to view the May riots as a failed attempt to reviving Imran Khan’s political status for the benefit of democracy. Meanwhile, the incumbent government of Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) has exacerbated the situation by blocking the principal platform of digital propaganda (Twitter/X) and other restrictive tinkering with internet access.

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A question arises: is there any antidote to this probable cultocracy? To answer this question, we need to consider the multidimensional facets of this numbed rationality. The youth, especially Gen Z, need to activate their collective consciousness to identify the loopholes in their country’s political system comprehensively, and filter the ideas that are genuinely in the interests of their country’s (and their own) future. Gen Z needs to self-evaluate their political awareness and analyse their political criticality, . Gen Z has always been an active participant in political addresses rooting for the manifestos of their cult leaders, but have they ever asked those leaders about the credibility and authenticity of those symbolic (election-friendly) manifestos? Have they ever tried to create the transparency council attached to the Executive for inspecting each action of an elected political party according to their exaggerated manifestos for a tenure of five years? These questions seem utopian in current circumstances; however, questions like these have the potential to eradicate the dilemma of cultocracy that looms on the horizon. Pakistan and India are on divergent trajectories, with different obstacles, nonetheless heading to the same probable destination, cultocracy. To halt this journey, Gen Z can play a pivotal role simply by evaluating the cause of the nation rather than an individual (cult).

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Banner image © Paul Siewert, 2023, Unsplash.

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