Pavan K. Varma | For BJP & Opp, Abuse Is Ruse To Avoid Issue-based Politics

The recent use of abusive language against Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi at a public meeting convened by the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar is not only a random misdemeanour. It reflects, in a more disturbing sense, the continued corrosion of our national political discourse — a corrosion that is no longer incidental, but systemic.

What was once the preserve of ideological contestation has today degenerated into an arena of verbal mudslinging, completely devoid of dignity and decorum. We must ask ourselves with candour: how did we, as a polity, arrive at such a nadir? At the heart of this linguistic degeneracy lies a deeper malaise: the hollowing out of political culture in India. In a country where the legacy of political leaders once bore the mark of stateliness — where Gandhi wrote letters to adversaries with civility, and Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee sparred with the Opposition with grace and intellect — we now find ourselves surrounded by a vocabulary of vitriol.

Memories in Bihar of the RJD’s ‘jungle raj’ (1990-2005), when law and order and rectitude were jettisoned on the altar of brute power and corruption, are still vivid. In that milieu, where brand new cars could be forcefully hijacked from showrooms, and people were afraid to step out of their homes after dark, the fact that the RJD and Congress leaders have not apologized for this outrage should not come as a surprise.

The PM, in a speech in Bihar on September 2, strongly condemned this incident. His speech was emotional, as he claimed that abuses that targeted his mother were an insult to all mothers in India. His anguish is understandable, but perhaps he should also introspect on what has led to this deplorable state of affairs.

The truth is that leaders of all political parties, as and when it has suited them, have condoned, overlooked or even tacitly encouraged this kind of politics. In 2014, soon after Mr Modi had just become PM, a minister in his Cabinet — no less — had in a public speech used the unpardonable juxtaposition: Ramzade and haramzade. It created widespread revulsion and it was expected that the PM and the BJP would take stern action against the uncouth minister, including expulsion from the Cabinet. But this was not done, and the concerned minister only expressed regret at her utterance. More recently, a BJP MP, on the floor of the Lok Sabha, hurled obscene and racist slurs at a MP from a minority community. He was not suspended by the Speaker, nor was action against him taken by the party.

Other parties are equally guilty. Congress leaders have abused the PM too, and used incendiary language in speeches which are punishable under the law. In response, BJP leader, and the PM himself, have responded in similar tone, using deplorable sexist expressions like “jersey cow”, “Congress vidhwa” and “50 crore girlfriend”.

This demeaning public discourse has by now developed a collateral support system. One has only to take a look at the coarse and abusive language now common on dopamine driven social media platforms. All sense of restraint has been thrown to the winds. Social media platforms have become cesspools of hate speech, often masquerading as political opinion. Anonymity and virality have combined to make online discourse even more brutal, encouraging politicians to mimic that tone in real life to stay ‘relevant’. The role of media — both traditional and digital — in amplifying the worst tendencies of our political class must also be taken into account. In the age of 24x7 news cycles outrage sells. Abuses hurled at a political rally are immediately clipped, shared, memed, and debated on primetime television with breathless indignation. The substance of the political message is ignored; the style — however crass — is magnified.

It is tempting to put all the blame on "party workers," often portrayed as rogue elements whose passions occasionally overtake their reason. But this is a facile defence. In politics, as in any institution, the culture is set from the top. When leaders turn a blind eye to indiscipline — or worse, derive political mileage from the outrage such indiscipline generates — they become complicit. Silence is endorsement. And in today’s political climate, silence in the face of abuse has become the default response.

Indeed, in several cases, one can observe a pattern: the abusive remarks are made, a brief furore ensues, the party issues a half-hearted clarification (often without naming the individual), and then the matter is allowed to recede from public memory. The individual in question faces no significant consequences. Often, they are rewarded with greater visibility, for in today’s politics, shock value is currency. This tacit acceptance from leadership, across party lines, has sent a dangerous signal — that electoral gains justify rhetorical gutter-diving. That the ends justify the means.

Ultimately, all this filthy froth is a ruse to avoid issue-based politics. The RJD-Congress has nothing substantive to say about their agenda for Bihar, nor has the BJP. When the PM expressed his agony at the insult of mothers, he should ask the “double engine sarkar” in Bihar, what it has done for them? One out of three of the 14 crore Biharis live below the poverty line. Surely, there are mothers amidst this vast number? Till very recently, mothers above the age of 60 got a pension of only Rs 400 a month. Mothers seeking to educate their children are still faced with a situation where schools are ruins and teachers are absent. And when their sons, whom they have brought up by remaining hungry themselves, grow up, they are forced to migrate for lack of jobs to other states, meeting their mothers only once in a year, if that. In villages, most mothers above 50 years are prematurely bent, because of anemia, lack of calcium and nutrition.

While politicians abuse publicly, the public suffers. The issues that matter to them, are drowned out in this continuous verbal sewage. More importantly, we must all think what kind of political culture we are bequeathing to the next generation? One where might is right, where language is weaponised and where the art of respectful disagreement is lost in the cacophony of abuse?