A lot of non-stop mudslinging against each other and washing dirty linen in public is going on. When Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to take “strong action” against those using foul language, the BJP reacted. Kharge’s 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 growing usage of foul language and mudslinging has become a habit among political leaders in India. 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. 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”.
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 politicians and political parties are surely responsible for declining political discourse in the country. 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 Rahul’s tongue should be “scalded” after what he spoke on reservations.
Using foul language is the quickest and easiest way to degrade and shout down opponents. And politicians using them are nothing shocking. Foul words and barbs have now become the norm. 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’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. The whole episode seems amusing. Who is accusing whom and who is justifying what – seems riddle-like but leaves the bad taste?
