Click to play videoUgly, dirty and vicious--that is how campaigning for the 2009 Assembly elections will be remembered as.
It will be remembered for Varun Gandhi allegedly threatening Muslims and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad warning that he would run a “roller” over the young BJP leader. It would be remembered for politicians threatening and abusing each other.
Has the language of politics become totally debased? CNN-IBN’s Sagarika Ghose asked this on Face the Elections to actor and activist Farooque Shaikh, Shiv Sena MP Bharat Kumar Raut and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
“Any right-thinking would be alarmed and appalled at what we hear,” said Shaikh. “But I don’t think just the language (of politics) but morality, ethics and priorities have climbed down. It is not just in politics but across the social spectrum.”
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray allegedly called the Prime Minister a eunuch and the party has applauded Varun Gandhi for his speech. Is that fair and dignified?
Raut claimed that Thackeray’s statement had been misinterpreted and the Sena leader had actually chided people who had abused the PM. “As for Varun Gandhi he has disassociated himself from what is being shown as his speech. Why not give him a chance to prove himself (innocent)?”
The Shiv Sena sympathises with Varun’s feelings but not his language, said Raut.
Politicians get away with foul language because people and political parties don’t condemn them “unequivocally”, said Singhvi. What about Congress chief Sonia Gandhi calling Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi maut ka saudagar (merchant of death) then?
“That was an idiom and was not a word of abuse,” said Singhvi. Stop electing people who give abusive and provocative speeches and politicians will shut up, he said.
Shaikh called for a benchmark in society that is applied strictly across the board. “It is a malaise that is spread across the social spectrum. The Election Commission should come down very heavily on who make such utterances,” he said.
SMS poll on has the language of politics become totally debased? Yes 89 per cent and No 11 per cent.
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