Some mumbo-jumbo is being fed to the media by BJP circles to suggest that occasionally the uplifting thoughts of its president Nitin Gadkari are being lost in translation and emerge akin to invective when that native Maharashtrian-speaker seeks to question other parties’ political positions in the best Hindi he can summon. This has
happened twice in a single month. The first time two political stalwarts, of UP and Bihar respectively, became the (un)intended targets of the BJP chief’s robust attempt at public speaking in the national language. Fortunately, the matter was prevented from snowballing into anything seriously unpleasant as Mr Gadkari hastened to explain away his observation, using cultural gap as alibi, although he wouldn’t have sounded convincing even to a groupie. No tit for tat ensued, and it was widely accepted that the BJP chief had perhaps acknowledged a faux pas had been committed. Alas, this was not the case when the pick of the RSS to head the saffron party took on the Congress two days ago on the Afzal Guru question. Instead of acknowledging boor articulation, however indirectly, Mr Gadkari chose to dig his heels in and insist he would produce an encore if need be. What inspired such a reckless idea can only be guessed at. In retaliation, a young and ebullient Congress spokesman took on the BJP chief head on (conveying his no uncertain thoughts in English). If he had been advised better, he might have used a linguistic flick or glance and moved on. That would have told its own story. Compliments are best not returned in the belittling ways of the street. What then followed was fit to turn away from. A leading BJP spokesman all but extolled his chief on prime-time television. This was not unavoidable.
Lapses from dignity are not unknown in politics anywhere in the world, but those who occupy high positions in public life seek to insulate themselves at the personal level from the hurly-burly of the linguistic mud-pit, or make amends at the first opportunity if a transgression occurs. It is in this that lies Mr Gadkari’s uniqueness. Were he to reflect on the pedigree of his position, he might consider himself placed uncomfortably, for the lineage includes the likes of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. Those who seek to trace humour in the expressions of the current BJP leader will see the folly of their ways if for a moment they recalled Mr Vajpayee’s thrust and parry, or the memorable repartees of Bhupesh Gupta and Piloo Mody that so enriched parliamentary life in another era.
In a democracy, political parties are an integral aspect of civil society which, by definition, abjures violence, including that of language. Were this not so, language brutality can easily make the transition to brutal ways in other fields that would endanger civil society itself, and as a consequence democracy. We see examples of this on India’s periphery. In this country, we are fortunate our civil society has evolved to its present stage, although living conditions remain frightening for many. If leaders are meant to offer direction to a society, and not merely to their own parties, they would consider deepening the positive features of our civil society. The present BJP chief has had his position thrust upon him as a historical irony. It is up to him to grow into the graces and intellectual suaveness that his position demands, and not continue to be held back by ways of the mofussil counter-elite. In a broad sense, this can be said to apply to some other senior regional politicians too, but concerns are more pressing in respect of a leader of a party which aspires to an all-India dimension.