Public Figures Cannot Be Insensitive In Their Speech And Action
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-03-03 08:40:25
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
The maverick Subramanain Swamy is at it again. Angry at the response of government of India in not condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has insensitively compared Prime Minister Modi to a hijda (a derogatory term used to describe a transgender).
"A Prime Minister of 1.4 billion cultured people cannot be a political hijda" is what Swamy tweeted. In trying to show that he is against the war in Ukraine (which is also the stand of billions across the word, including India) and that the Prime Minister has not taken a correct stand, Swamy has ruffled a lot of feathers by using hijda as an adjective to describe a spineless or neutral or indecisive person in the most derogatory way.
Netizens immediately took him to task. The two best responses were by Soumya Mishra (@soumya_mishra) who tweeted "You don't have to use a transphobic slur while criticising him. This is extremely problematic and jeopardises the understanding of an already marginalised community" and by someone going by the name Crytpo Geekbot (@SenegalIPP) who tweeted "And from your language, it seems that he is PM of 1.4 billion minus 1 cultured people." Another user reminded Swamy that transgenders face a lot of abuse in their day-to-day life and he would have given up on life if he was in their place. Still others derided him for showing disrespect to the Prime Minister.
Politicians, celebrities and other influencers must watch their language when they are putting something out in public domain. It reminds one of a remark by author Chetan Bhagat in 2013 which landed him in a similar controversy for being insensitive. Bhagat had then tweeted "the rupee is asking, is there no punishment for my rapists" after there was considerable devaluation of the currency. He was reminded that using 'rape' is this way was grossly unfair to the victims and trivialized the word. Bhagat had then defended his action by saying that he used the word as a metaphor. But that, exactly, is the problem. It is not correct to use some words even as metaphors as they trivialize issues and hurt sensibilities. They also help in letting people persist with their prejudices.
