Debate erupts in Kerala after politician’s English draws social media storm

A sharp online debate has broken out in Kerala over the English-language skills of political leaders after memes mocking Democratic Youth Federation of India national president and Rajya Sabha MP A.A. Rahim’s English remarks during his visit to Kogilu Layout in Bengaluru went viral.

Rahim had been at the site after several allegedly illegal structures were demolished, and clips of his comments quickly became the subject of ridicule on social media.

As the controversy intensified, Rahim publicly acknowledged that he needed to work on improving his English, but emphasised that his primary concern was expressing solidarity with those who had been displaced, rather than linguistic perfection.

Several leaders came out in his defence, including Minister V. Sivankutty, who said on social media that meaningful action carried more value than polished language. The online political sparring also led to the resurfacing of old parliamentary video clips featuring leaders such as former Congress heavyweight K. Karunakaran and Indian Union Muslim League leader P.K. Kunhalikutty, which were circulated to support differing viewpoints in the debate, The Hindu reported.

Social critic M.N. Karassery said that people were free to agree or disagree with Rahim’s views, but ridiculing his language missed the core issue. He recalled an instance from Parliament when Jawaharlal Nehru, despite being a multilingual former prime minister, listened attentively to Opposition leader A.K. Gopalan, who was not fluent in English.

Karassery noted that when Gopalan’s “broken English” was mocked, Nehru had responded by saying that it was not Gopalan’s ideas that were broken. He described mockery of language as comparable to body shaming and suggested that the debate appeared designed to divert attention from the real concern — the displacement of people.

Academic and author J. Devika said she was disturbed by the focus on language on a day when socially aware citizens were worried about issues such as the Supreme Court’s position on the Aravalli Hills and bail granted to the accused in the Unnao rape case.

She expressed disbelief at what she described as the Malayali mindset, pointing out that Kerala had long debated the role of English and largely accepted that strict adherence to “Queen’s English” was unnecessary. While stating that she disagreed with Rahim’s politics, she questioned whether his lack of fluency in English diminished the importance of what he had to say.

Author and English professor Manu Remakant, who runs the online programme Cup of Kavitha to introduce English poetry, took a more critical view. He said there was nothing wrong with making a sincere effort to improve one’s language skills, especially when one had access to influential platforms.

According to him, genuine passion and commitment would naturally lead to efforts at improvement, and such efforts often seemed lacking. He added that MPs in Delhi could similarly benefit from improving their Hindi. While noting that memes mocking linguistic shortcomings were discouraging, he argued that people should also avoid adopting a sense of victimhood and stressed that respect for language was important.