Chamcha is a colloquial Hindi word. It is a very populat slang word in politics of India and in other walks of life .It is used for a sycophant and hanger on or for lackey. It literally means spoon. BSP founder Kanshi Ram has written a book called Chamcha Age.

A Indian bureaucrat or politician realise the importance of Chamchagiri (spooning or sycophancy) and indispensability of a Chamcha. A chamcha, verily is more than a favourite. He is a catalytic agent to activate the Sahib’s(boss) ego and cloud and obfuscate his thinking.The capabilities and role of one Chamcha differs from another. When the boss is fading away , Chamcha's condition becomes quite pitiable. Fear of unknown grips them.

The Chamchagiri needs research. There is a need to develop unit of measurement of Chamchagiri so that the concerned in particular and others in general know the standing of a particular Chamcha. Alternatively, someone can also think of evolving a scale similar to Richter's scale.

References

1989 Stuart Auerbach Washington Post (Mar. 26) “Nehru and His Nation”: M J Akbar has been called a chamcha to the Gandhi family, and some of that slavish devotion shows up in his uncritical acceptance of Nehru’s government-dominated economic program and the erosion of the country’s grass roots political structure as a result of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

1994 William Dalrymple City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi (Dec. 1) “Glossary” p. 340: Chamcha Sycophant (lit. ‘spoon’). 1997 Ghulam Nabi Azad India Today (June 23) p. 13: I have my own standing in the party. I cannot be anybody’s chamcha (stooge).

1997 Sudhir Vaishnav Times of India (Aug. 24) “A very political exercise”: Several hangers-on. They are available aplenty everywhere in the country and are often known in the local market as Chamcha.

1998 P.S. Sharma Times of India (Jan. 17) “In Praise of Chamchagiri”: No doubt, the British also had their sycophants—toadys, bachhas, jholichuks and hukkabardars—but chamchas of the modern vintage they had none. Chamchas are a breed apart.

2004 Krishnakumar Midday (Mumbai, India) (Sept. 21) “Leaders’ chamchas get lucky”: All three have pulled strings in their respective parties to get Assembly poll tickets for their puppets and close confidants, better known in political parlance as chamchas.

2004 [Ambar] rvinst (Bangalore, India) (Oct. 2) “Advanced Kannada Slang”: Chamcha: A Person who uses lot of “Maska” to promote his self interest. The villan in old kannada movies, nowadays potrayed as a statesman.

2005 Asra Nomani American Prospect (Mar. 5) “Pulpit Bullies”: Speaking in Urdu, the language of South-Asian Muslims, local Muslims who opposed the posse had taken to calling its members chumcha, or “spoons,” a cultural concept akin to being a lackey.

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