It was a difficult meeting – the jury had been debating for long. All the voice and video recordings had been played and replayed a number of times. Declaring the winner was a tough decision. One suggestion that came was: let us declare a joint winner. But again there was no close second also. Most of the contenders equally deserved the first position. Oh, I forgot to mention the meeting was to decide who managed to make the cheapest comment in the ensuing great Indian circus (er ... sorry, elections) which was drawing to a close.
The pepper spray, scuffles and table smashing, witnessed by India's often dysfunctional parliament in its final session before general elections had no doubt set up the stage for a bitter poll campaign, but what followed in the next couple of months was beyond expectations. The campaign started with the usual promises that this time the agenda would be development, growth, corruption etc. But when the battle hit the hinterland, the true colours of the politicians emerged.
Though the award was not announced and still remains a secret, leaders of all parties had sensed it and very quickly began indulging in making cheap personal remarks.
The early starters were the BJP’s Amit Shah, who in his campaign speech in the riot affected state of Uttar Pradesh, said that the general election, especially in western UP was “an opportunity to take revenge and to teach a lesson to people who have committed injustice”. Then the colourful, buffalo-searching Azam Khan, a leader from the Samajwadi Party followed. In a campaign speech, he remarked that the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan had been won by India on account of Muslim soldiers in the Army. Mulayam Singh Yadav, another leader from the Samajwadi Party, sparked outrage with his comments questioning the death sentence to three men who were convicted of two gang-rapes in Mumbai saying, "Should rape cases be punished with hanging? They are boys, they make mistakes."
Late entrant Priyanka Gandhi too managed some very strong entries that qualified for the contest. “Snoopgate allegations”, “Neech Rajneeti”, “insult to my martyred father”, “Smriti Irani – who?” were some of her above the mark contributions.
Other politicians jumped onto the bandwagon as well. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Praveen Togadia has been reported as making a speech targeting Muslims who have bought properties in Hindu neighbourhoods. There was the case of Imran Masood of the Congress who threatened to “chop into pieces” BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Then there was Modi-supporter Giriraj Singh who said that “people opposed to Modi will be driven out of India and they should go to Pakistan.” In response, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah remarked that any body who votes for Modi should be thrown in the sea. Oh, the entries from Trinamool were courtesy Mamata Banerjee who labeled Modi as “Gadha (donkey)”, “dangababu” and Derek O'Brien who called Modi the ‘butcher of Gujarat”. The entries of Abu Azmi (Samajwadi Party leader from Mumbai) were also very strong -- specially where he wanted a DNA test on Muslims who did not vote for his party.
All in all concluding, the meeting and awarding the winner was becoming a formidable task. The committee decided to extend the time till the evening of May 16 in the hope that maybe a senior politician may sense the tough competition and make a last ditch brilliant entry. Till then any suggestions are welcome.
Please note that the entries from two main contenders – Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi were not accepted, as they were too frequent to follow and record.
