The Ascent of Uncivility and the Descent of Decency

                                                      The Ascent of Uncivility and the Descent of Decency

The second half of the above title, ‘the Descent of Decency’ is the title of a forthcoming book by the Republican strategist and commentator, Evan Siegfried. I could not help borrowing it for my article as the relevance of Siegfried’s plea for civility in political discourse has greater need for us in India where the sparring between the ruling and the opposition parties have reached  abysmal level  since we started parliamentary democracy sixty eight years ago.  While Siegfried’s book is about the low level of American politics, his comments are not far off the mark when applied to Indian politics, especially now in the pre-election year,  if not the election year. One expects the PM  known for his sensational announcements to come up with an address to the Nation ( a la his demonetization bombshell) and announce General elections before the close of the current year. In anticipation of this announcement, all the parties are getting battle ready and first in the scheme of things is to unleash their verbal arsenal.

The rhetoric is vicious and very often they are lies built on half or quarter truths. These lies are repeated so often that they blur the distinction between genuine truths and fictitious lies. Though majority of our netas have sparse knowledge of the Mahabharata, they all seem to know the worth of the famous line uttered by Yudhishtra:”Aswathama atha kunjara”. During the great war, Drona of the Kaurava camp was on a rampage through the Pandavas. Krishna who wanted Pandavas to win the war and to re- establish dharma tells Yudhishtra alias Dharmaputra to  spread the word that Aswathama is dead. Aswathama is Drona’s son. Krishna knew that news of his son’s death would shatter the grand old warrior.  ‘Aswathama is dead’ is only the half truth. The full truth is Aswathama is also the name of an elephant which had died in the battle. Yudhishtra known for his honesty as the son of lord Dharma is reluctant to tell a lie. Krishna convinces him to say Awathama is dead and in an inaudible voice add “’Aswathama, the elephant.”
 The story goes how Drona heard the first part of Aswathama’s death but in the noise of the battle, did not hear that it was Aswathama, the elephant. He lays down his arms in grief and he is beheaded by Dhrishtadyumna, Yudhisthira’s brother-in-law.

This is being practiced in full vigour by all the political parties where a lie built on half truth becomes an illusion of truth. One recalls Winston Churchill’s famous sardonic remark: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." So our political leaders have no compunction in converting half truths to full blown lies that would serve the immediate purpose of destroying their political opponents. This was first started by AAP a few months before the 2014 general elections and it fetched them great dividends. The shoot and scoot policy made them overnight heroes and they practiced it to the hilt. But when AAP leaders continued the same policy even after coming to power in Delhi, they could only shoot and not scoot and the law caught up with them. The Chief Minister had to withdraw his comments on the BJP leader Arun Jaitley and had to  apologize to him to escape a hefty penalty of ten crores. 

But unfortunately, the present ruling party and all the opposition  parties put together have resorted to  AAP’s policy to shoot irrespective of whether it hits the bull’s eye or not. The only aim is to shoot and as elections are on the horizon, no one feels the need to scoot.  The verbal assault based on a small fraction of truth and built on huge lies has become the stable diet for the users of the social media. The mob lunching and the gory death of  alleged cattle and  child lifters  have their origin in fake news spread through What’s App and other social media. Like primary cancer that soon gets metastasized, a mischievous lie uttered casually but deliberately spreads very fast and ends in community murder.

Every politician worth his name is now resorting to low level attacks on his/her opponents. The strategy is to give the dog a bad name and hang it too. Rahul Gandhi was given the nickname “Pappu” and it spread like wild fire among the BJP bhakts  to the extent that whatever he did or didn’t, whether he uttered the truth or made a gaffe, he was made fun of as “pappu pass ho gaya or pappu fail ho gaya”. The intention was to personally vilify him so that no one  takes him seriously. After the damage had been done, the magnanimous BJP leaders advised their cadres to stop calling him Pappu.  The stone had been thrown at the mud, the splash had soiled the shirt and no amount of soap or detergent can wash the stains off the shirt. This is stooping down low to attack someone in the most loathsome manner. It is an assassination of one’s mental caliber.

Post- 2014 elections the euphoria of a huge win was discernible in the spokespersons of the ruling party with their no holds barred attack on the opposition-in particular on Congress to keep in tune with the PM’s repeated call to establish a Congress -mukht Bharat.  The sneer, the smirk, the taunt and the mocking tone employed by them marked the hardening of uncivility in our political discourse. For the first two years, Congress which had been reduced to a negligible 44 seats in a house of 540 members could hardly mew in retaliation. They had to listen in shameful silence the cry of the victor likening the mother- son duo as Humpty Dumpty that had a great fall/ All the Congress’ scamsters and all their dynastic family could not put Humpty Dumpty back again. The over the top rhetoric by top leaders and spokespersons of the BJP accusing all the Congress  Prime Ministers of  zero, if not negative contribution towards  moral, ethical, economic and social upliftment of the nation-starting with Jawaharlal Nehru  and moving through Indira and Rajiv Gandhi and  coming down to Sonia and Rahul(fondly addressed as poor Pappu)  have had disastrous consequences. What is different in today’s political climate is the speed with which those insults have disseminated among both the ruling and the opposition parties alike. AAP called the PM a psychopath, while Mani Shanker Iyer, now suspended by the Congress made his infamous casteist slur on the PM. The PM went all blazing against our former PM, Cambridge educated Dr.ManMohan Singh charging him as entering into a criminal conspiracywith Pakistan  to dethrone him from the PM’s chair.  Rahul and his team constantly attack the PM and sneer at him for failing to match actions with his election promises. The minions of both the parties shout at each other on the news channels with no restraint. The Finance Minister(presently on sick leave) likened  Indira Gandhi to Hitler without ever wondering what genocide did she cause as Hitler did with six million Jews. On the contrary unlike Hitler, after winning the Bangladesh war, she returned the hundred thousand Pakistani soldiers without harming them. Taking the cue from Mr.Jaitley, the opposition was quick to return the compliment by calling the PM  Aurangazeb not knowing that Aurangazeb had killed his brothers and imprisoned his father Shah Jahan while the PM is known for his deep respect for his mother who is in her nineties.  The over-the-top rhetoric has achieved its ignoble purpose to further bitterness and hatred and irreparable damage to the political ethos of the country. The acrimony and anger have taken deep roots that it seems well nigh impossible to make our political  masters and their chosen disciples  change their tone and stop demonizing their opponent or anyone who differs from them politically, ideologically and in their articles of faith. We are living in fractured times that has seen the collapse of all values, cultures and  basic norms of civilization. The vitriolic rhetoric accuses all the political opponents as anti nationals and traitors to the country. Those who are at an impressionable age, those who have low self esteem as a result of unemployment, those whose aspiration for climbing up the social ladder has been betrayed, find in this acrimonious rhetoric a license  to wreak their vengeance on society. They are pushed to undertake dangerous and deadly actions which may meet with the approval of the political bosses and fetch them some small dividends. As Evan Sigfried  writes:  “It's not about "civility." It's about recognizing that the people with whom we disagree are also human and deserving of being treated with decency.” Our politicians must understand how recklessness with their words can have fatal consequences as evidenced in the lynching incidents that are today swamping the nation.  

 It is now up to the civil society to bring back civility in political discourse and responsible behaviour among our political leaders and make them stop dehumanizing our society. The only weapon we have is the power to vote. Let us resolve not to vote those who indulge in vitriol, falsehoods, demagoguery and over the top rhetoric. This can have a deterring effect on the abuse of language and uncivilized behaviour of those who demonize their opponents overtly or covertly. The Election Commission cannot continue as paper tigers. Let it function as an independent, neutral umpire and disqualify without fear of reprisal all those who do not follow the norms of civilized conduct. Civil society has  the power to bring back decency and civil discourse. NOTA is not an answer, but a rejection of candidates who lack restraint in thoughts, words and action will  have a salutary effect.