Politics is becoming more and more moronic thanks also to the arrival on the scene of multiple regulatory mechanisms in the form of ‘commissions’ that catch people on the wrong foot even over patently harmless utterances. So much so, those on the public platform measure their words before they hold forth. At the same time, some politicians get away with acts like making communally loaded speeches. Such situations are often gloated over.
There is more of heat in the context of the Delhi assembly polls. A punch-line by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a campaign rally on Wednesday hogged media attention. Rahul said Modi will be beaten up by the youths in another six months’ time because of his failure to provide them with jobs. As part of the campaign rhetoric, this might be pardoned in view of the heat and dust such situations generate on the ground. There are also those who thought Rahul Gandhi touched a new low in public discourse. Yet, the context might be a justification. This was time to whip up moods.
A day later, the response that came from PM Modi was a tit-for-tat. He hit back at his youthful political rival with a calculated volley of punches. The PM drawing a comparison between Rahul and the nature of tube lights – not quick in responses – was one. The PM also appears to have teased his rival by saying, “It takes time to prepare for an act like beating someone with a stick…some six months!”All these too could be, prima facie, dismissed as avoidable comments. At the same time, politics is all about verbal fights, a verbal punch here or a hit there should be part of the game, and both sides should take these in their strides.
Rahul Gandhi represents a relatively younger generation of Indian politicians. He has the style of the new generation. During the Lok Sabha campaign, he called the PM a ‘chor’, vis-a-vis the Rafale fighter jet deal (Chowkidar Chor Hai”). Modi hit back by saying Rahul’s “baap” was the real “chor” a la the Bofors. These provided some mirth to the campaign scene. But whichever way we look at it, political discourse in this country has sunk to its lowest ebb and become a personal slanging match. There are ways of taking pot-shots at political rivals but not by hitting them below to the belt and for the riposte from the other party to get even lower. Clearly, it’s time to call a halt to such blunderbuss.