Neech Speech

      When Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyer called Narendra Modi a ‘neech’ person, it is dubious as to whether or not he meant it as a caste or class insult. He probably meant to describe the current Prime Minister with the perfectly classless and caste-less insult ‘vile.’ But the unscrupulous politicians jumped at the opportunity to defame the Congress party for their ‘class hatred.’ Politically victimizing himself for being despised for being ‘uncultured’ and ‘crass’ is one of the numerous tactics employed by the Prime Minister for gaining the votes of the gullible citizens of the country. The furor that arose nationwide because of that one remark, which ultimately resulted in Aiyer being suspended from the party, throws light on a disturbing aspect of modern day politics: the persistent blame-game being played by major politicians. Politics has long been famed for being an ugly sport, where accusations and incriminations are common and no one is expected to play fair. However, in recent times the politics of this nation has taken a rather grisly turn that has left even the most adept partisans aghast. Every single comment or remark made by any member of a party is immediately pounced upon by the opposing party like scavengers. Unleashing the most unbridled invective against each other, the parties are carving a special niche for themselves in public life.

Flame Wars – Blame Wars

            If Mani Shankar Aiyer did ‘cross the Rubicon’ by using the term neech, then by no means was he the only one to have done so. The BJP is not far behind in losing any opportunity to fling obscenities at Congressmen and rob them of any pride or vanity that they might have. Of course, in the past it was restricted to the fringes of the political parties to do the lowly task of insulting opposing parties, but now, even the Prime Minister of the country has lost virtue by alleging that Congress and elements in Pakistan may be working together to prevent BJP from winning the elections, one day prior to the ‘neech’ remark by Aiyar. This allegation was made against Manmohan Singh and Ahmad Patel. P. Chidambaram was right in questioning whether or not winning an election was so important to BJP that it would make such allegations against the former PM of India. Both parties have been actively hurling obscenities at each other while completely disregarding the fact that they are not locked in a petty argument and that an entire country’s future rests on their actions. While politics is no longer restricted to rum and scotch-totting, English-educated Stephen’s College alumni, the likes of which overrode Congress party and Indian politics at one time, the present day ‘unsophisticated’ and unpolished politicians must not forego their morality in the name of becoming empowered and emboldened. The recent exchanges that have taken place in the sphere of politics are beneath the dignity of even the country’s politicians, famed for not sugarcoating their remarks. Political campaigning has simply become a war of words with different parties trying to defame each other in order to make themselves look better. The Congress has little to gain by calling the other side names, yet it does so with complete fervour. The BJP uses invective as part of its strategy to hit at Congress’s weakest points. During the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, Narendra Modi carefully used allusions and metaphors to hit out at his opponents. But today the effort is crude and direct and sometimes baseless allegations are made against others. Alleging that Rahul Gandhi is not a Hindu, that he prays as if he were a Muslim and other jibes clearly depict religious discrimination that brings BJP down from the pedestal it was put on by the people. Our leaders seem more interested in trying to out-smart each other than in actual governance.

Is This Democracy?

           The Modi government was ushered into the country in a time where the Centre was overridden with corrupt and lazy leaders and BJP government with its promises of development and the proverbial acche din seemed like a Godsend. But recently people are experiencing a sort of buyer’s remorse with this government because instead of development they’re focusing more on vigilante squads and such. In the last 4 years, the BJP has hardly done anything of importance except boast about every tiny achievement of theirs. Narendra Modi has been doing an excellent job of marketing himself and his greatness during extravagant speeches and political gestures. The government might have added little to the capital, mainly in economic terms but its main focus for making policies has always been for electoral achievement. The series of campaigns that it has conducted has very little to do with the voters’ daily lives and more to do with undermining the opposition. Ironically, freedom of speech is curtailed in every other situation in this country except for when it really should be – during electoral campaigning. Someone needs to explain to our politicians that this is not a catfight. The goal is not to prove the other party as ineffective or corrupt, it is to prove yourself better than the other party so as to be able to serve the people better. But serving the people is the last thing on the minds of these greedy politicians. At the end of the day, even if the BJP does win in Gujarat, it has still lost the respect of the citizens of this country who had expected this government to be better than the previous one. Winning over people with empty promises, not paying attention to instances of religious and communal violence, stifling people’s guaranteed right to disagree with the government – not the ideal democracy. Then again, politics has always been about ignorance and intolerance armed by power; why should this government be any different?