In India, the words used to refer to dogs are often misused. Whether in cinema or in real life, the situation isn’t much different. In the movie Sholay, the protagonists Veeru and Thakur, played by Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar as well as the antagonist, played by Amjad Khan often use the word “kutte” as a word for abuse.
Recently, one of the most senior politicians in India inappropriately used the word “dog” in one of his speeches in the Parliament.
The leader of the Congress Party, Mallikarjuna Kharge said “Desh ki ekta ke liye Gandhi ji ne kurbani di, Indira ji ne kurbani di. Aapke ghar se kaun gaya? Ek kutta bhi nahi gaya!” (For the unity of the country, Mahatma Gandhi, former PM Indira Gandhi sacrificed so much. Who came from your house? Not even a single dog came), referring to the BJP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHlffTzeihY
This quote must be seriously analysed because Mr. Mallikarjuna Kharge happens to be one of the most senior politicians in the country. Unlike the Vice President of his party, Mr. Mallikarjuna Kharge is very experienced and has won elections for a record 10 consecutive times having won the Assembly elections for an unprecedented 9 consecutive times from the Gulbarga constituency in Karnataka. He is very much respected by people and politicians alike due to his clean image and it was very disappointing to see him speak the way he did.
Why did someone with so much experience lose his cool? Why did such a senior politician lose his cool and spoke so ridiculously? The BJP MLA from Chikkamagaluru constituency, C T Ravi made a very nice observation on Twitter.
Upset for not being made CM of Karnataka despite his seniority & loyalty Shri @MallikarjunINC equates his high command Gandhis to DOGS !!!
— C T Ravi 🇮🇳 ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (Modi Ka Parivar) (@CTRavi_BJP) February 7, 2017
Mr. Kharge has been loyal to the Congress party for decades and is a much more efficient leader than the present CM of Karnataka, Mr. Siddaramaiah. Also, Siddaramaiah is an outsider to the Congress party, having joined it only in 2004 after he was expelled from the JD(S). Despite these two glaring points, Mr. Mallikarjuna Kharge was overlooked for the post of the Chief Minister in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah was named as the CM by the Congress high command.
If we go by the recent trends, we can say that the senior Congress leaders in Karnataka are getting disillusioned by the leadership in the state. S M Krishna, a Congressman for 46 years and a hugely popular CM of his time, recently quit the party and according to some sources, is set to join the BJP. If this happens, it will be a huge blow to the Congress and a huge gain for the BJP because Krishna is hugely popular and is one of the reasons behind Bengaluru becoming the IT capital of India.
Senior leader Janardhana Poojary has been a vocal critic of the Siddaramaiah government for quite some time now. And now, Mr. Mallikarjuna Kharge has lost his cool in the Parliament and spoke in a totally unexpected manner, which is both wrong and disappointing. Is Kharge also feeling the same way as senior leaders from his party are feeling in Karnataka? Have the senior politicians totally lost the faith in the government in the state? We can only speculate on these points.
But there are many reasons why Mr. Mallikarjuna Kharge was wrong to give such a statement for BJP.
Two of the founding fathers of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (which later evolved to become the BJP) sacrificed their lives for the country. Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya both died at a relatively young age. Had it not been for Dr. Mukherjee’s strong efforts and uncompromising stand on Kashmir, which actually led to his death, every Indian citizen would have had to require a special permit to enter the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Was this not a sacrifice for the nation? Pandit Upadhyaya too died in mysterious circumstances in 1968. He was the mentor of one of the best Prime Ministers we have ever had, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He lived a very simple life and had only one objective in his mind. He dreamt of a better India and dedicated his whole life towards it.
It was wrong on Mr. Kharge’s part to make a ridiculous statement. Nobody would have bothered or looked into it seriously if such a statement was made by his party’s Vice President or even President for that matter. But for a senior politician like him to make such a statement, belittling the sacrifices made by Dr. Mukherjee and Pandit Upadhyaya was very much wrong and could and should have been avoided.
Some other links: