Political enlightenment tarnished by pejorative words
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During the liberation struggle launched to bring down the first government of united Kerala, the abusive slogans raised by the upper casteists who joined the opposition had been infamous. K.R. Gori Amma, the Revenue Minister in the EMS cabinet and the one who sowed the seeds for the land reforms law in Kerala, was one of those who were targeted. ‘Gowri, aren't you a female/can't you go to mow the grass’ was the slogan the liberation strugglers shouted at that time. Those words betrayed the intolerance of those who had remained the ruling class until then, when a state was being transformed from a monarchy and a feudal state to a democratic one. It also reflects the grudge held against the representatives of women and Dalits who were marginalized in society but then reached positions of power. It is doubtful whether now the ruling class is still embracing the same basic ideology of intolerance after six and a half decades. That suspicion gets stronger when we listen to the political statements and speeches made by responsible leaders inside and outside the Assembly in recent days.
A few days ago, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement in the Assembly indirectly referring to a member of Parliament sparked a new controversy. The 14th session of the 15th Assembly, which concluded on Thursday, was overall tense. This Assembly session witnessed a strong debate on the health and home departments of Kerala. When the Sabarimala gold plating controversy also figured in the House, it turned from a debate to a tense situation. Often, when the opposition took the centre stage of the House, even the Question House got called off. In the meantime, some of the opposition members got into a scuffle with the Watch and Ward. The Chief Minister’s controversial statement was made while referring to these incidents. His remark mocked at the short height of an opposition member, saying “a person who looks like he’s been stacked up to eight coins". The Assembly also witnessed representatives of the ruling party applauding and supporting it. The next day, there were again abusive remarks from the ruling party itself. The speeches made by P.P. Chitharanjan and M. Rajagopalan against the opposition approach, beyond political criticism, were filled with similes that insulted the differently abled and others, which was a shame on the political enlightenment of Kerala. There was also an unfortunate situation where ministers and others justified the Chief Minister’s words. Finally, matters appeared to get worse when the Chief Minister himself justified his side: he said in a press conference that he did not mention the member’s name and that his statement was not about short height, but about poor health of one member. Either way, the remarks were pejorative. The fact that senior leaders in the state make such statements at a forum for discussion where legislation should be conducted through insulated political debate, only serves to tarnish the image of our enlightened politics.
Perhaps historically the ones most insulted in political debates are the Left leaders. Pinarayi Vijayan himself has been the victim of it many times in the recent past. No one will forget the ‘toddy tapper’s son’ remark made against him after he took office as the Chief Minister. Pinarayi Vijayan is also a well-lknown leader who responded politically to such slurs by saying that he is proud to be born the son of such a person. That response should be seen as a continuation of the Left’s general political approach. Even when heated political criticisms surface, what is generally observed is that religious, physical and gender insults are avoided. However, in recent times, the ruling party in Kerala has adopted a different approach. It is not a good sign at all that the Left, at least in some cases, is borrowing the Sangh Parivar approach of retaliating against political criticism by adding religious and caste-based counter-insults. On the issue of upper-caste reservation, when the ruling party was on the defensive, the CPM state secretary accused the Jamaat-e-Islami and other organizations of ‘communal polarization’. And the obscene comment made by M.M. Mani against the ‘Pempilai Orumai’ movement was also not a slip of the tongue. All these statements remind us that those who outwardly claim progress and renaissance are internally harbouring a completely conservative approach towards the marginalized sections of the people. That such words of hatred and abuse are constantly being heard even within the assembly, is a matter political Kerala should seriously discuss.