Another election, more filthy language

We are bang in the midst of the rough and tumble of the Gujarat elections and as has become a habit with Indian politicians, the use of abusive language and hurling of insults at the opposite camp continues.

First, we had Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “neech kism ka aadmi” … the nuances of which would translate as a low, despicable, insufferable human being. Which is abusive and bad enough. Congress’s newly appointed president, and the party’s single known face in the Gujarat elections, Rahul Gandhi, immediately expressed his disapproval through a tweet where he talked about such abusive language being the BJP’s culture and not that of the Congress, and said the party expected Aiyar to apologise. Which he did, but he had to be suspended because the backlash that came from the BJP camp was enormous.

Not missing this golden opportunity, BJP leaders interpreted “neech” as “low caste” and said nothing better could be expected from the Congress which was desperate for any kind of electoral victory at any cost.

Aiyar’s explanation that Hindi is not his mother tongue, and his usage of ‘neech’ was meant to mean “low” and not “low caste” was drowned out in the cacophony of sound that followed.

Hardly had this storm waned a little there came a tweet from a hitherto unknown entity called Salman Nizami, some sort of a Congress leader in Kashmir, it appears, who tweeted trying to compare Rahul Gandhi’s lineage with that of Narendra Modi.

“Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv Gandhi; sacrificed his life for India. Grandson of Indira Gandhi; sacrificed her life for India; Great grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru; fought for India’s independence. Narendra Modi… son of? Grandson… of? Sacrifice?”

Perish the feeblest attempt to interpret this as Modi’s ancestors being nobodies.

On the contrary, beginning with the Prime Minister himself, the BJP swooped down on this excellent opportunity; screaming TV anchors produced images of Nizami posing with senior Congress leaders.

Said Modi in one of his election speeches: “Congress leader and star campaigner of the Congress Party and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Salman Nizami, asks on Twitter - Modi, who is your father, who is your mother? We would not even think of asking such insulting questions to our worst enemy.”

Pulling out his other tweets the PM added, “This man calls for Azad Kashmir and says ‘har ghar se Afzal (Guru) niklega’. He calls our Army rapists. Does Congress want to win election with the help of such people?” Why a prime minister should give so much importance to a non-entity like Nizami is baffling.

As though the assault on our senses was not enough, the Congress machinery got busy too. So the social media, especially WhatsApp chat groups, were flooded with videos of the pot calling the kettle black. Now we had screeching videos of prominent BJP leaders mocking former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a “maun baba” (silent hermit), “namard” (impotent) and worse. With so much filth flying thick and fast, one cannot but be reminded of Congress president Sonia Gandhi calling Modi “maut ka saudagar” (merchant of death) with reference to the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.

But we’d be stupid to think that people are disgusted by such abusive language and epithets used against political rivals. Given the kind of language dominating the Indian political firmament for many years, our voters seem to have developed thick hides.

And if you thought that the Hindi cow belt’s netas such as Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Mayawati really can use colourful language, you should have listened to election rallies in Tamil Nadu where former chief minister Jayalalithaa was abused in the filthiest terms. Particularly because of her film background and her relationship with MGR.

Had the Indian electorate been really offended and punished some of the worst culprits who are only too well known, electioneering bhasha and its nuances would have improved. But on the on the other hand, it seems to be getting worse. Politicians and their bhakts don’t spare journalists either.

And among this tribe, some women journalists face even more mudslinging and vile abuse. Just check out tweets against Barkha Dutt, Rana Ayub or Sagarika Ghosh, and they will reveal a misogynist mindset, in which, regrettably, women fans of our netas, participate most lustily.

COMMENT NOW