Political discourse is India is going from bad to worst. Our leaders and politicians are struggling hard to stay in limelight and are leaving no stone unturned to get their two minutes of fame. However there still exists a constitutional framework, a code of ethics and a refined world. Nevertheless, Lalu Prasad Yadav seems to have acquired some kind of Jupiter velocity and have entirely exited from the periphery of civilized conversation.
Erstwhile Bihar CM and fodder scam convict Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav was addressing a rally in Amethi’s Prasadepur block for the SP-Congress alliance candidates on 22nd February. This was the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of UP election and the not-so-good performance report of his allies from previous phases took a heavy toll on logical thinking capabilities of Mr. Yadav.
Crossing already non-existent limits of political decency he compared Prime Minister to “a eunuch who keeps on clapping during his speeches”. Bereft of any development agenda he further resorted to fat shaming the BJP president. He said and I quote, “Amit shah is a rhinoceros. If he wouldn’t be so why else would he get stuck in a lift? Next time he comes tell him I will put him in a bucket and hang it”.
Here is the video:
If there ever could be a bottom line of indecent, below the belt political attacks, this one solidly surpasses it by leaps and bounds. No doubt when this guy governed the state of Bihar for 10 years starting 1990, the state slipped to the bottom of every quantifiable growth index. His language is more suitable of some roadside thug and in no way, sounds similar to a statesman sermon.
The rally venue was Gyan Bharti Inter College and Lalu exposed his complete ignorance from any type of ‘Gyan’ whatsoever. Notwithstanding the fact that by educational qualification he is a Bachelor of Laws and has also done Masters in Political Science, former CM himself posed severe doubts on his means of qualification. Indeed, no amount of education can actually make you what you don’t want to be. In this case, a person worthy of living in civilized society.
What remains beyond suspicion is that Lalu Prasad Yadav writes his speeches all by himself for the simple reason that no political speech writer worth his salt would ever dare to use such words for the country’s PM. Indeed, for some loud claps and cheap laughter our esteemed politicians can do whatever they want to. Election commission has its own limitations and law has its own burden. Elsewise I don’t see a reason why any individual should walk unpunished after making such defamatory statements about national leaders.
I would have understood if this statement has come out from some low life block-level, struggling-hard-to-make-a-name, politician. But no, here is a person with over 30 years of experience in public life. He has been adorning a seat in the largest temple of democracy for too long to understand the nitty-gritty of parliamentary languages. Yet, he deliberately chooses to ignore it all.
If this is the way he refers to the Indian Prime Minister on a public stage, I shudder to even think of what kind of conversation he must be having behind the closed doors. What has gotten in to us that we are being led by such uncouth, unruly, undisciplined leaders? I am sure this is not the freedom of speech that we were taught about in our eighth standard civic studies book.
I don’t understand how these guys conveniently forget that there still exists a more civilized, socially-structured world outside the perimeters of these elections rallies. Are we bringing the street-language discourse to the political dais now? Are we stepping-up from already over-flowing mafia politics and bringing a new niche of domination into it? I hope so not.
Lalu Prasad Yadav has always taken proud in exhibiting his unpolished behavior. He is no fool and does it deliberately to enthral his audience.
He is a made-up clown in the media circus and we should be absolutely fine with it. Indeed, the objection is to now his now slow shift towards adult-comedy. He has been an object of ridicule for long and he doesn’t give two hoots to any image makeover thought. One being reprimanded he often shrugs off the charge by claiming that he is no elite but a ‘zameen ka neta’. However, being a leader attached to the ground never translated to speaking street language in parliament or political rallies. Hukum Dev Singh is one such leader. He has the charm of the streets without its crassness.
It is high time we pass on our strong objections to such witless, doltish behaviour in political fiefdom. If our democracy has to live in the form that we dream it as, such politicians have to go along with their vicious mindset. Lalu Yadav has lost his senses; it is on us voters to make sure that he loses his political standing too.