Even a year before the general elections, the spokespersons of the two major parties of the country have started exchanging abuses. To senior citizens, who have seen elections during the era of Nehru, Patel, Rajaji, Azad and Jayaprakash Narayan, this is not in good taste. I remember Nehru addressing a public meeting on Marina Beach in the then Madras in the 1950s, when he criticised the local Dravidian party for demanding an independent Dravida Nadu. The only strong word that he used was to call it "tribal". It was interpreted as the pejorative "kattumirandi" ("uncivilised person", or "junglee" in Hindi) by Tamil newspapers - though the translation was inappropriate. The moment he uttered the word, Rajaji, who was seated on the dais, got up and whispered something in Nehru's ears. Afterwards, Nehru's speech was more moderate. We do not have such refined politicians with a restraining influence today.
A Congress spokesperson has compared Narendra Modi to Yamraj riding a buffalo. Will he tell the nation which animal Sanjay Gandhi rode to demolish the hutments of poor Muslims in the Turkman Gate in Delhi during the Emergency to beautify the city? Or, animals of the Congress leaders who unleashed an anti-Sikh pogrom in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi? The Opposition should remind the public constantly about these tragic episodes to expose the claim of the Congress that it is not communal.
A Seshan Mumbai
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