The alarming deterioration of public discourse, reflected by the acts and behaviour of the principal Opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), does not portend well for the prospect of a healthy Opposition in our democracy. We have always known that they are bad losers. After their rise to power and governance under Atal Behari Vajpayee, and after six years at the Centre, their defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 hit them like a thunderbolt. They resorted to every possible explanation in the book to explain their failure at the hustings, except the obvious truth staring them in the face, which was that they had failed in all aspects of governance and had completely lost the confidence of the people. Until today, they have not recovered from that defeat or mentally prepared themselves to serve as a responsible Opposition. The success of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), once again in 2009, led to the near-complete decimation of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and also a fratricidal war in the BJP itself, with many senior leaders leaving the party and several extreme fringe elements dominating the 2009 election campaign.
When Nitin Gadkari took over as BJP president a few months ago, political opponents of the BJP refrained from comment. After all, the assumption of office as president is an internal matter of any party and we waited to see how the new president would perform. In his initial public appearances, Mr Gadkari uttered the usual platitudes and made the routine unremarkable commitments. The only noteworthy image we saw was the TV visual of Mr Gadkari belting out a Hindi film song during the executive meeting of the BJP. Again a matter purely for the BJP to enjoy or criticise.
It was later that the true colours of Mr Gadkari began to surface. He suddenly launched a vicious attack on Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav and, wholly without provocation, quite literally called them “dogs”. When there was a public outcry, he did not exactly recant, but grudgingly declared that if he had hurt anyone’s feelings, he was willing to take his words back. Perhaps Mr Gadkari did not realise that far from hurting anybody’s feelings, it was his own image as a politician which had suffered a body blow.
After a brief lull, during which he made no noteworthy statements, either politically or otherwise — although he did make news after having fainted during a BJP rally — Mr Gadkari surfaced with an utterly low level, unbecoming and tasteless remark about the Congress. At a public meeting, he enquired if Afzal Guru was the “son-in-law of the Congress”, adding whether the Congress had given their daughters in marriage to Afzal Guru, and if that was the reason the UPA government was treating him with kid gloves. This was a statement that gratuitously insulted millions of women in the Congress and the millions of Congress’ daughters. Where was the need for Mr Gadkari to refer to Congress’ daughters? Was it not possible for Mr Gadkari to criticise, if he so desired, the policy of the Congress regarding Afzal Guru, in political, or at the very least, decent terms? What possible connection do daughters or sons-in-law have with Afzal Guru, and do the women in the BJP support this unwarranted attack upon their sisters in the Congress? For that matter do men, women and citizens all over the country feel that this is proper language to be used by any responsible person, leave alone the president of the principal Opposition party? Sadly, even those champions of women’s rights from other parties and elsewhere, who are quick to criticise the government, chose to ignore this uncivilised language coming from the BJP president for purely political reasons and only because it was an attack upon the Congress.
Sadly, the BJP, rather than apologising for the utterly derogatory remarks made against Congress’ daughters, chose to defend their president. Thus the BJP president stood exposed not only for his chauvinistic and disrespectful, anti-women attitude, but the low and unenlightened level of his political discourse.
The latest gem from the BJP president was his remark that Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh is “Aurangzeb ki aulad”, or the son of Aurangzeb. Normal decent citizens find it impossible to comprehend what exactly Mr Gadkari was trying to insinuate when he made this remark, but his foul-mouthed slur forced the former BJP MP and Mr Singh’s brother Laxman to resign from the party protesting against this remark. Mr Singh replied in one sentence announcing to Mr Gadkari the name of his father. Again, deafening silence from the BJP itself. Again the question arises: why would any self-respecting leader make a remark like this? What possessed Mr Gadkari to remark about Mr Singh being Aurangzeb ki aulad?
Is it impossible for Mr Gadkari to open his mouth without as­king if members of the Cong­r­ess are married, are “sons-in-law”, or “aulad” of some death row convict or some historical fi­gure? Is the BJP president in­c­a­pable of normal, decent, civ­i­l­i­s­ed political discourse? What kind of mindset is the BJP pres­i­dent afflicted with if he cannot talk the normal political lang­uage of price rise, development, national security or patriotism? What kind of principal Opposition party is this which sits paralysed and helpless while its president talks obsessively about the parentage, paternity and marital relationships of the ruling party and its members?
The answer: a party not just unworthy of being the principal Opposition party, but a party unworthy of being a part of our great and civilised democracy.
The BJP talked incessantly about being a “party with a difference”. The BJP talks about the Indian way of life and Indian culture and about Hindutva being our way of life. It is in the nature of democracy that electoral defeats and political travails are an integral part of the fortunes of any party and the inner resilience of a party reflected by its core strength and values will ensure that it rises again to succeed. The Congress has proved this time again. However, if Mr Gadkari’s values reflect the core strength of the BJP, the future of this country’s principal Opposition party appears to be bleak.

Jayanthi Natarajan is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and AICC spokesperson.
The views expressed in this column are her own.