Coarsening of political discourse

With less than a week to go in the biggest election in the world, with some 900 million Indians votingat one million polling booths across the country, emotions are running high. Just before the last round of voting began on Sunday, a female candidate for the Aam Admi Party in New Delhi broke down at a press conference. Atishi, who goes by one name, wept as she read aloud from a derogatory pamphlet, which she claims was circulated by her Bharatiya Janata Party rival, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir. It called her a “prostitute”, “beef-eater” and a “very good example of a mixed breed”, contained defamatory allegations that she was having an affair with one of her party’s leaders and accused Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, also from the AAP, as being “born of unlawful parents”.

Gambhir has denied the accusation of circulating the leaflet but the bitter exchanges between the BJP and AAP mark a new low in India’s political discourse, in what has become the most abusive election campaign in recent history. Rather than issues dominating the agenda, the loudest voices have been those spewing out bitter and poisonous vilification.

Insults and attacks have become worryingly frequent.  Kejriwal has been slapped, smeared with chilli powder and pelted with eggs, but the abuse has come from all sides. Perhaps the most oft-repeated refrain has been opposition leader and Congress Party president Rahul Gandhi calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “chor”, meaning thief, so often it has formed part of his campaign slogan, “chowkidar chor hai”, a play on words meaning “the watchman is a thief”.

 Modi finally retaliated last week and in the process, succumbed to bad taste by calling  Gandhi’s late father, the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, “ Corrupt number one”. The pattern goes thus: a political leader insults a rival. The rival retaliates with a choice epithet. When the latter is criticised, he or she strikes an injured tone and bleats: “I didn’t start it. What about the insult against me?”

Then a free-for-all breaks out as both politicians dig out examples from years ago to prove who is to blame.

While this campaign has plumbed new depths, the coarsening of political dialogue has been underway for some years. In 2007, Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia called Modi a “merchant of death”. Since he became prime minister, political rivals have likened Modi to Hitler, Mussolini, Goebbels and Qaddafi.

 Modi’s BJP party has called  Gandhi a “foreigner” because his mother is Italian and labelled him “pappu”, the Hindi term for a naive young boy.

The most disappointing aspect to the mud-slinging is that it has not been restricted to the lower houses of parliament. Cabinet ministers and  Modi himself have waded in and failed to hold themselves to a higher standard, or to set the tone. Pavan Varma, the spokesman for the Janata Dal (United) party, says the level of personal invective is alarming: “Every society has an inbuilt moral compass indicating what is indecent. The political class in this country has lost this compass.” The reason for the abuse and character assassination is simple: it is driven by a desperation to win power. Politicians in previous eras used to fight one another on ideological grounds and even when they disagreed, they still carried a modicum of respect for their opponent’s views. Politics was always adversarial but a certain protocol was maintained. A bitter rival would cross the floor of parliament to shake the hand of an MP who had made a good speech. A rival’s personal life was never a subject for debate or acrimony.

Now it seems every consideration of taste or civility has been subordinated to the desire to win. The Election Commission of India has prescribed a code of conduct for all politicians, prohibiting abuse. But by the time the ponderous commission acts on a violation, the abuse has already spread far and wide. The vulgar insults are alarming in themselves but they also embody an even more worrying trend that could be dangerous for Indian democracy. Since 2014, when the BJP came to power, some of its leaders have made it a habit to call anyone who criticises the government’s policies as “anti-national” or “unpatriotic”.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi, India

 

 

Coarsening of political discourse

With less than a week to go in the biggest election in the world, with some 900 million Indians votingat one million polling booths across the country, emotions are running high. Just before the last round of voting began on Sunday, a female candidate for the Aam Admi Party in New Delhi broke down at a press conference. Atishi, who goes by one name, wept as she read aloud from a derogatory pamphlet, which she claims was circulated by her Bharatiya Janata Party rival, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir. It called her a prostitute, beef-eater and a very good example of a mixed breed, contained defamatory allegations that she was having an affair with one of her partys leaders and accused Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, also from the AAP, as being born of unlawful parents. Gambhir has denied the accusation of circulating the leaflet but the bitter exchanges between the BJP and AAP mark a new low in Indias political discourse, in what has become the most abusive election campaign in recent history. Rather than issues dominating the agenda, the loudest voices have been those spewing out bitter and poisonous vilification. Insults and attacks have become worryingly frequent. Kejriwal has been slapped, smeared with chilli powder and pelted with eggs, but the abuse has come from all sides. Perhaps the most oft-repeated refrain has been opposition leader and Congress Party president Rahul Gandhi calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chor, meaning thief, so often it has formed part of his campaign slogan, chowkidar chor hai, a play on words meaning the watchman is a thief. Modi finally retaliated last week and in the process, succumbed to bad taste by calling Gandhis late father, the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Corrupt number one. The pattern goes thus: a political leader insults a rival. The rival retaliates with a choice epithet. When the latter is criticised, he or she strikes an injured tone and bleats: I didnt start it. What about the insult against me? Then a free-for-all breaks out as both politicians dig out examples from years ago to prove who is to blame. While this campaign has plumbed new depths, the coarsening of political dialogue has been underway for some years. In 2007, Rahul Gandhis mother Sonia called Modi a merchant of death. Since he became prime minister, political rivals have likened Modi to Hitler, Mussolini, Goebbels and Qaddafi. Modis BJP party has called Gandhi a foreigner because his mother is Italian and labelled him pappu, the Hindi term for a naive young boy. The most disappointing aspect to the mud-slinging is that it has not been restricted to the lower houses of parliament. Cabinet ministers and Modi himself have waded in and failed to hold themselves to a higher standard, or to set the tone. Pavan Varma, the spokesman for the Janata Dal (United) party, says the level of personal invective is alarming: Every society has an inbuilt moral compass indicating what is indecent. The political class in this country has lost this compass. The reason for the abuse and character assassination is simple: it is driven by a desperation to win power. Politicians in previous eras used to fight one another on ideological grounds and even when they disagreed, they still carried a modicum of respect for their opponents views. Politics was always adversarial but a certain protocol was maintained. A bitter rival would cross the floor of parliament to shake the hand of an MP who had made a good speech. A rivals personal life was never a subject for debate or acrimony. Now it seems every consideration of taste or civility has been subordinated to the desire to win. The Election Commission of India has prescribed a code of conduct for all politicians, prohibiting abuse. But by the time the ponderous commission acts on a violation, the abuse has already spread far and wide. The vulgar insults are alarming in themselves but they also embody an even more worrying trend that could be dangerous for Indian democracy. Since 2014, when the BJP came to power, some of its leaders have made it a habit to call anyone who criticises the governments policies as anti-national or unpatriotic. The writer is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi, India