oppn parties Public Figures Cannot Be Insensitive In Their Speech And Action

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
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  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
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Public Figures Cannot Be Insensitive In Their Speech And Action

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-03-03 08:40:25

About the Author

Sunil Garodia 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.

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. 

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