Political Diary
New Delhi, 4 February 2020
Violence Is Now
Virtue
VITROLIC SEASON OF
POISON
By Poonam I Kaushish
Rajnetik
virodhi ya jaani dushman? A question that nags as the narrative hits a new low with
highly vitriolic and acerbic mud-slinging down to gutter-sniping during the ongoing
campaigning for the Delhi Assembly and CAA over two weeks. Tragically, the lines between a opponent and a sworn enemy have
got blurred which has trashed basic courtesies and decencies, ended
camaraderie, bonhomie and respect among healthy rivals. With the devil taking
the hindmost!
Everyone
and everything is game. From desh bhakts
to desh drohis. It all started with JNU scholar Sharjeel Imam asserting his
opposition to the CAA, “If we have five lakh people organised, we can cut off
the Northeast from India permanently. If not, at least for a month… Cutting off
Assam (from India) is our responsibility. Only then the Government will listen
to us.”
All
hell broke loose when Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur at an
election rally pumped his audience stating, “Desh ke gaddaroin ko…with a rapturous crowd volleying back “goli maaro saloin ko”.
Followed
BJP MP Parvesh Verma who kicked off a massive controversy by calling Shaheen
Bagh protesters “rapists and murderers who will enter your houses rape and kill
your sisters and daughters, kill them..” Next, he took pot shots at Delhi Chief
Minister, “In Delhi, many 'natwarlals' and
terrorists like Kejriwal are hiding. I don't understand if we should fight with
terrorists in Kashmir or terrorist Kejriwal in Delhi.”
Adding
fuel, Congress Rahul Gandhi compared Modi to Gandhi’s assassin Godse stating
both believed in the same ideology in a speech against the CAA. Countered BJP’s
West Bengal President Dilip Ghosh, people who were destroying Government
property while protesting the CAA should be “shot like dogs” as they had been
in UP and Assam. Worse, he refused to recant it. The Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece
Saamna also advised Union Home Minister Amit Shah to “immediately finish
insects like Sharjeel Imam” and a BJP MLA wants him shot dead.
Frankly,
I am not surprised as our netagan are
only showing their girgit true
colours throwing all public decency and decorum to the winds! Gone are the days
when jibes and trolls were funny or sarcastic and netas took them in their strides. Bringing things to such a pass
that we are accustomed to mud-slinging, sleazy and vitriolic tu-tu-mein-mein between political
opponents and parties. Of dirty linen being increasingly washed in public.
Serenaded by a frenzied audience’s seetees
galore. More vulgar the better, dil
maange more!
Obviously,
the blame for this descent of political discourse lies squarely with Parties.
Quick to crack the whip and complain to the EC all shy away from demanding the
same discipline for crude and repulsive swipes at rivals. Barring a warning or
ban on electioneering for two-three days the EC’s action against communal-caste
hate speeches totals a mere rap on the knuckles.
Who
does one fault? Given our netas have
perfected intemperate language to inject poison in society over the years.
Namely, dangerous and diabolical machinations of vote-bank politics, pitting
Hindus against Muslims and different castes thereby creating fissiparous tendencies
resulting in a communal-caste divide.
Alas,
none want to address critical questions: Why are their discourses becoming more
venomous and toxic? Can such language
and conduct be condoned? True, election speeches are meant to rouse voters,
some exaggeration and fiery sloganeering is understandable. Innuendoes and
invectives too are routine components of any campaign but all previous records
were broken by Thakur, Verma, Sharjeel etc who had no business to goad crowds
to violence.
No
matter that they may have been meant to score brownie points or incite voters
to vote in a certain way. Some may shrug it off as part and parcel of political
discourse. But it took on communal overtones against the backdrop of an
emerging bitter poll battle between the BJP-AAP at one end and BJP-Congress plus
entire Opposition on CAA.
Sadly,
through all this diatribes one thing emerges crystal clear: the political
skullduggery indulged in mirrors the harsh reality of our polity and is a horrendous
reflection on the depth of political depravation we have come to. Wherein there
is no dividing line between statecraft and witchcraft. What is correct and
incorrect—political etiquette and public decency? Never before has politics
denigrated to the gutter level as it has now.
Slander,
sensation smear and sully are the new political dialogues and vote-catching
mantra chanted by all Parties with each propounding its own recipe of harmony,
according to their own warped and selfish political needs. In the hope that
this acerbic sniping would bring them tripti---
and power. Ends matter not the means and winning is the name of the game.
Today
the Election Commission may temporarily ban Thakur and Verma from
electioneering but will it stop the muck-raking? No. All are tainted by the
same brush. Be it the Congress, BJP or any other Party. Over the years, slander
seems to have become a virtue and unparliamentarily language the order of the
day.
At
another level, all Parties have exposed the hypocrisy of the system. Love them,
hate or simply ignore them, the hard reality is that they couldn’t care a
damn as all believe in the dictum an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Truly living up to the synonym of rule by
law, jiski laathi uski bhains.
Clearly,
vilification and political expediency expose the bankruptcy that is manifest in
our system. Wherein our politicians have perfected the art of cultivating low
morality and high greed according to their whims and fancies—and the need of
the hour which has made our fragmented politics a lot more malignant.
Resulting
in immorality becoming a way of life. What damn difference does one more
slanderous attack make? Needless to say, harsh words are undoubtedly part and
parcel of politics. Even Westminster, the mother of all Parliamentary
discourses is not free from this. One notorious case is that of a leading
Labour right Nye Bevan who often crossed swords with Winston Churchill
describing the Conservatives as gutter snipes and vermins.
Importantly,
India is at the moral crossroads. True, the rules of the game have changed
recklessly without a thought for the future yet in our present all pervasive
decadence, interspersed with growing public distaste, cynicism and despair
there comes a moment of truth and reckoning. Clearly, it is high time that our netagan realize that they are putting a
premium on sleaze and halt this eddy of licentiousness. On immorality. Will
profligacy be the bedrock of India democracy? How long do we suffer the
stampede for sensation and slander?
Certainly,
one can argue that all is fair in elections yet we must draw a lakshman rekha. A long and hard battle
lies ahead for bringing a change in the political system and the present
political ethos. Our leaders need to put
electioneering back on the rails of dignified debate on issues affecting the
nation.
In
the final analysis, India’s voters must not allow themselves to be taken for
granted any more. Or permit the shameless, self-serving netas to indulge in violent rhetoric. They need to remember one
age-old truth: If you point one slanderous finger at another, four other
slanderous fingers will point back at you! Can a nation be bare and bereft of
all sense of shame and morality? And, for how long? ---- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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