Our leaders suffer from foot-in-mouthitis

Somehow one grew up with the idea that only Sagittarians, like me, suffered from foot-in-mouthitis, an ailment almost as dangerous as the mad cow disease. The disease has now gone viral with prominent people, irrespective of their star signs, shooting their mouths off with nary a qualm. Makes for great entertainment, provided one does not take their remarks too seriously. Like the minister who scoffed at the idea that a senior minister would touch a scam for ‘an amount like Rs 70 lakh’. Or the son-in-law who proclaimed that ‘we are a mango people in a banana republic’, fully aware that he was part of a family in charge of the said republic. Or the suave ex-CM who spoke of the day when there would be ‘no girls to marry and we’ll all become gays’. Then came the dig by an irreverent MP, who was astounded that a woman in politics who had ‘been doing jigs on TV for money’ had now turned into ‘a political analyst’. Followed by a Union minister who claimed that ‘as time passes by, a wife gets old’, even as others sneered about Rs 50 crore girlfriends’ and a ‘love affairs ministry’. The mother of all gaffes was a seasoned politician comparing Swami Vivekananda to Dawood Ibrahim. Journalist Michael Kinsley came up with the Kinsley gaffe, when he said, “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth — some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.” The year 2012 ended very tragically with a horrendous gang rape case. She died after a brave fight, but her death brought young people out in droves, as they took to the streets to protest against crimes against women. This time the jibes that came were not funny in the least, with one illustrious scion pointing his crude finger at protesters ‘all highly dented-painted’ who were not serious about the cause they espoused. Obviously he had no idea what he meant because the next time one saw him, he was mumbling apologies and disappearing into his chair. Then one heard a woman CM declaring that rapes happened because ‘men and women are interacting more freely’, followed by another wisecrack by an opposition MLA who felt that schoolgirls in skirts attract ‘sharp and dirty glances and lewd comments’ from miscreants. A woman can be another woman’s biggest enemy, a statement that was proved when a woman politician termed a particular rape ‘a misunderstanding between a lady and her client’. Of course, rape is never rape when it is inflicted on someone else. It is time for us to hang our heads in shame! Another gentleman proclaimed pontifically, “Just because India achieved freedom at midnight does not mean that women can venture out after dark.” Does that mean that India can never come out from the shadows? When will we start giving the benefit of the doubt to the victims, and stringent punishment to the attackers? The new term bandied around is ‘chemical castration’, which sounds like a sound idea. However, if offending body parts were to be rendered impotent, too many garrulous folks would lose their tongues! The New Indian Express 10th January 2013 12:00 AM

Comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Deepti, it is very simple. The number one disease is corruption and when cancer of corruption is rooted in each and every system, you elect these so-called leaders as representatives to lead you. But, what is their qualifications? You have to be either a chamcha (sychopant) and money collector for the madam. So when your PM who is highly educated is the biggest chamcha under whose watch 15 ministers are corrupt, biggest scams happened, how do you think the country will prosper. The delhi police is corrupt and says, what can they do...if this PM is also involved in Coalgate and other scams why do they not take it. The PM was able to muster the support by arm twisting, buying, and using CBI to get selling the country to USA for nuclear power, selling the country to Walmart, and many other laws passed why not Lokpal? Instead he puts Anna in Jail and promotes Khurshid to FM while he openly threatens Arvind on live TV. So when the country is ruled by mafia raj dont expect anything.
    Posted by Abdul Aziz at 01/10/2013 02:46

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  3. The piece would have been more interesting and worth preserving for posterity if the author had shown some courage by attributing names of the politicians with their respective quotes. I don't understand why Deepti Menon hesitated to name names when the said quotes that border on stupidity and insensitivity have been the ones on record. Only that it would have helped the less informed and the future generation to know what the hell of a societal leadership our generation had been through.
    Posted by Trupti Prakash Panda at 01/10/2013 05:07 Reply to this Report abuse
    Dear Trupti, It would also be more interesting to read comments if people like us try and see things from the writer's perspective. Do you realise that IF she had mentioned names, the article would not be touched by any national newspaper in the country?! Also, lets not insult out intelligence by pretending like we don't know who the morons are who said these idiotic things! As far as the future generation goes - trust me, with the way things are going in our country - they will definitely be as informed and as angered as all of us are! Anyway, this is just my opinion! :) I just did not appreciate you talking about the writer's courage when you do not even know her. At least she had the courage to write this piece unlike the rest of us :)
    Posted by PM at 01/10/2013 18:10 Reply to this Report abuse
    Dear PM, I was talking about the less informed people who would not be able to figure out the people who have mouthed the insensible and shameless quotes. As for your telling me not to talk about the writer's courage when I don't even know her, let me tell you, I have nothing personal against her, and that I am a fan of her writings which usually appear in the newspapers at regular intervals. And Mr. PM, let me also tell you, for a constructive criticism or personal opinion, one doesn't need to have any sort of acquaintance with the people who author a piece and expect others to read it.
    Posted by Trupti Prakash Panda

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  4. Deepti your analysis on our leaders and bold comments by Abdul Ajij one thing is very clear unless we elect hardworking and people with clean records the situation will continue like this.Think about the contributing of women who form 50percent of voters rather than dress etc.They can surely excel men to bring back the moral values and eliminate the hypocrites and the criminals though they are few but protected by the vested interest.
    Posted by HMD Kamath at 01/10/2013 07:37

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  5. Deepti, you missed what shameful things that shameless Asaram Bapu said. Though he is not a Minister or a leader, when it comes to hypocrisy, he takes the cake. Include his remarks in your article, embellish it by naming the names as suggested by Trupti Panda and the people of India get your article framed and keep it with them for the posterity.
    Posted by n.r.singh at 01/10/2013 10:05 Reply to this Report abuse
    Well said. Mr. N.R. Singh
    Posted by Trupti Prakash Panda at 01/10/2013 11:32

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  6. Rightly said.
    http://modonika.blogspot.in/2013/02/enter-to-win-modonika-jewelry-giveaway.html

    ReplyDelete

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