FairPoint: Bitter words and sour laddus, declining political discourse

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) When Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to take “strong action” against those using foul language, it came across as holier-than-thou.

The letter was countered by BJP chief J.P. Nadda, saying the Congress has a “history of using abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and OBCs (Other Backward Classes)”.

In response, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed her disappointment on social media platform X, noting that the PM did not respond personally but instead had BJP President Nadda pen an “inferior and aggressive” reply.

The whole episode seems amusing. Who is accusing whom and who is justifying what – seems riddle-like but leaves the taste of a laddu gone sour.

In fact, the laddu itself has recently been embroiled in controversy following Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s shocking revelations about Tirupati Prasadam.

If God’s prasad can be adulterated for profit, then using foul language is the quickest and easiest way to degrade and shout down opponents. And politicians using them is nothing shocking. Foul words and barbs have now become the norm and the one who seems to be getting these most is the Prime Minister himself.

Leading the pack is none other than Congress, which has been running the “Mohabbat Ki Dukaan” while simultaneously using the harshest words and expressions against the PM. Several Congress leaders have been facing several defamation cases also.

The language of the politicians across the party lines worsens when the elections are near and leaders do not hesitate to castigate each other. This has become more frequent in the last decade.

It started earlier during the campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly elections when Congress veteran, then party president and currently a Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi called PM Modi a ‘Maut Ka Saudagar’. Congress lost the election heavily and the BJP scored a landslide victory.

It’s not as though politicians have only recently started losing control over their language. Foul words have been used often by various leaders earlier also, but the difference now is that those at the helm of party affairs are themselves leading the case.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when Narendra Modi was the BJP’s prime ministerial face and he was fighting his first Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said, “He could sell tea at a Congress conclave.” In the 2017 Gujarat elections, Aiyar again targeted PM Modi and referred to him as “Neech Aadmi”.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is facing a defamation case for a comment he made in October 2018, claiming that an unnamed RSS leader compared PM Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi referred to PM Modi as ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’, which the BJP countered with the ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ campaign. Congress suffered a historic defeat in the elections and the BJP registered a huge victory with 353 seats in Lok Sabha, its highest tally ever.

Not learning from the mistakes, Kharge while addressing a rally in Ahmedabad in November 2022 called PM Modi a “Ravan”. “We see your (Modi’s) face in corporation elections, MLA elections or MP elections, everywhere… Do you have 100 heads like Raavan?”

In March 2023. Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Parliament after he was sentenced to two years in prison in a defamation case. He was convicted by a court in Gujarat for 2019 comments about PM Modi’s surname at an election rally.

Rahul Gandhi during a rally in Rajasthan in November 2023 called PM Modi “panauti”. Gandhi said India lost the 2023 World Cup final match against Australia due to PM Modi’s presence, “… Our guys were playing well they would have won the World Cup. But ‘Panauti’ made us lose…”

Gandhi, himself has been facing jibes regularly with ‘Pappu’ being the most used one. PM Modi often indirectly calls him a “Shehzada” during election speeches.

In July, while replying to a discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha, the PM called the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi a ‘balak buddhi’ (a grown man with a child’s mind)’.

Recently, after Rahul Gandhi’s speeches in the US, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu called him the “number one terrorist of the country”.

Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad announced a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh for “chopping off the tongue” of Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on the reservation. A BJP MP from Maharashtra Anil Bonde said his tongue should be “scalded” after what he spoke on reservations.

The growing usage of foul language and mudslinging is even being commented upon by the courts too. Recently, the Karnataka High Court said, “…what is happening is individual mudslinging by political party leaders and members of all political parties… it is a lot of non-stop mudslinging against each other and washing dirty linen in public…,” Justice M. Nagaprasanna orally remarked during the hearing of some defamation petitions of political leaders.

The leaders making pathetic remarks against each other are setting crude examples before the public. Will it get worse, or will better sense prevail? It’s a difficult question with no clear answer. But, the laddus which are under scrutiny now, are surely going to be real holy and sweeter.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)

–IANS

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