Derogatory Remarks Against Narendra Modi Will Not Work For The Congress
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-12-01 06:16:54
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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That the Congress is adept at scoring self goals is evident from the way the recently elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge compared Prime Minister Modi to 'Ravan' during the Gujarat campaign and earlier senior leader Madhusudan Mistry said that they will show Modi his 'aukat'. These jibes against Modi never work and boomerang on the Congress (remember the 'neech aadmi' jibe by Mani Shankar Iyer during the 2017 Gujarat campaign). Yet, Congress leaders never fail to come up with newer derogatory terms to describe Modi, embarrassing the party and making it lose more votes.
Personal attacks are nothing new in Indian politics and in fact Narendra Modi turned it into a fine art in 2014 by hitting at the privileged upbringing of Rahul Gandhi by always saying that he was born with a chandi ki chammach. But as the political dogfight turned fiercer and the BJP embarked on its mission of Congress-mukt Bharat, personal attacks became the norm and the language deteriorated by the day. Both the BJP and the Congress, as the two main parties, were equally guilty of reducing public discourse in India to a street fight.
Yet, even by the abominable standards that have now become normal, the use of words like 'Ravan' and 'neech aadmi' are not acceptable and reflect poorly on the Congress. The Congress had many issues on which it could have cornered the BJP in Gujarat and could have fanned anti-incumbency more seriously this time after its good showing in the 2017 elections. But it lost the plot as the party became weaker in the state through internal tiffs and defections. Further, its weakness has allowed the AAP to elbow in and exploit that. The Congress is making it much easier for the BJP by indulging in personal attacks against Narendra Modi and is not expected to get more than 50 seats.
