When leaders use words as stones

Mumbai politicians engage in a series of insults, with Uddhav Thackeray calling Devendra Fadnavis a "blot," leading to mud-slinging from both sides.

Mumbai: Finely-honed jibes are part of any good politician’s armoury. The thrust and parry of insults can often leaven contentious political discourse with humour. Winston Churchill’s swipe at his rival Clement Atlee-- “Mr Atlee is a modest man with much to be modest about”—could serve as a good example for Maharashtra politicians who plumb new depths in their public speech daily.

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Uddhav Thackeray’s low comment on Monday calling his former ally Devendra Fadnavis as a “blot (‘kalank’) on Nagpur,” has led to the latest round of mud-slinging. While the state BJP chief Chandrakant Bawankule said the people of Nagpur should fling shoes at Uddhav, Fadnavis himself said at a public meeting, his former friend needed psychiatric treatment. “The current political situation has affected him so much that it seems he needs psychiatric treatment. He is speaking (in this manner) because of such condition of his mind, hence it is not necessary to react on what he has said,” Fadnavis added. Farmer leader and MLC Sadabhau Khot on the other hand has compared Sharad Pawar to the “Shaitan” (devil) himself which he later clarified, “came out of his mouth inadvertently.”

Some weeks ago, chief minister Eknath Shinde while referring to his former boss Uddhav Thackeray said at a party rally that when Uddhav went to meet PM Modi after the central agencies filed a case against his associates, he began “passing watery stool.” (“Lendi paatad jhaali.”) Not to be outdone, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has its own one-man demolition squad in MP and Saamna editor Sanjay Raut who doles out insults by the bushel. On various occasions he has called BJP leaders “vermins” and referred to them as Indian politics’ serial killers and rapist. “The mind of Delhi (Centre) is behind this,” he claimed after last week’s split in the NCP. “They are the serial killers and serial rapists of politics. Their method of committing crime is the same as always. They split political parties for their own objectives and get breakaway factions to claim ownership of original parties,” he said. On another occasion, in response to a comment by Shiv Sena MP and Eknath Shinde’s son, Shrikant Shinde, Raut simply spat before the TV cameras, though later he said he had not done so. But when NCP leader Ajit Pawar cautioned him against spitting, he shot back, “Better to spit than urinate in a dam,” referring to Ajit Pawar’s 2014 response to villagers’ complaints of no water in the dams. “What can I do, should I urinate in the dams?” Ajit Pawar reportedly told the villagers.

In a recent interview to HT, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said he squarely blamed Raut for lowering the quality of public discourse in the state. “Every morning the Marathi channels reach his house at 9 am and he holds forth talking rubbish. We too then have to respond in a similarly low fashion because in politics if someone hits you, you cannot offer the other cheek.” So now BJP leaders like Nitesh Rane routinely try to out-shout political opponents using increasingly coarser speech. For instance, in his response to Uddhav’s ‘kalank’ comment about Fadnavis, Nitesh Rane posted a morphed photo of Thackeray, and tweeted: “Blot on manliness. What else to expect from the chief of eunuchs?”

Clearly, Maharashtra politicians of all hues have not read GB Shaw on the perils of pig wrestling, or closer home, the adage about hamam etc.