Standard of public speaking in free fall

The poll war across the globe seems to be fast losing profanity. Hurling invectives at rivals has become a fashion. Till 1980's razor sharp language conveying the true feelings of the speaker was sparingly used during public meetings or political roadshows. Inside Parliament the leaders used to confine to rhetoric based on facts and figures and never resorted to foul language or personal attacks.

Obscenities were confined to private meetings inside the party offices away from the media glare. But now though we call ourselves a democratic country and claim that we have freedom of speech, in reality the common man hardly has any freedom to question the leaders either directly or through social media.

Those were the times when even if someone had used obscene phrases, the media would show high levels of decency by not publishing such words and simply say heated exchange of words between the two leaders had taken place. Now neither the leaders nor the media seem to be observing that kind of decency and decorum. Its not just in India, even in US particularly during the previous regime of Donald Trump obscene words used to fly freely.

But in both India and US, as in many other democracies, filthy language is the new medium for the modern political narrative. The standards of public speech have taken a severe beating and there are occasions when people like the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used words like Jersey cow against the rival leader Sonia Gandhi.

It is really unfortunate that the Indian leaders toss obscenities at rivals without batting an eyelid. Though Indian culture says that one should respect the age of a senior citizen, when it comes to criticism of political rivals the language used by law makers is crass in language and amounts to political assassination. No political party or leaders or the constitutional bodies like the Election Commission is doing anything to stop the usage of gutter language. We have seen sometime back how a UP MLA used putrid language against BSP leader Mayawati.

Even people in high positions like that of Chief Minister or main opposition party leaders are no exception. The veteran leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party is also known for using objectionable language. In tune with the saying that politics is a dynamic situation, we have seen use of abusive language reaching a new peak in the two Telugu state since 2014.

It started during the agitation for separate Telangana and now people are left wondering if obscene language is not used. On many occasions the Telangana Chief Minister called some people who questioned him during public meetings as "Kukkalu" (Dogs). Not to be left behind, his ministers whether it be KTR or other important ministers like Jagdish Reddy have also started using such words if anyone questions him.

Jagdish Reddy has gone a step further during the campaign for Nagarjuna Sagar by polls and said, "Tokkestanu," (Will crush you). Of course, what he meant was that he would politically crush the person who questioned him. What do we call such an attitude? Egoism or arrogance? What these leaders should understand is that once out of power, no one would care for them. Are the leaders listening?