When political discourse turned extra acerbic

Posted On Apr 24, 2021 By admin With Comments Off

The political battleground shifted to the virtual space for much of the 12 months since March 25 when the country went into lockdown, the interval giving itself not to detachment but to a more divisive and acerbic discourse as the country pushed off a pandemic. Online press briefings and acidic Twitter battles drove the part deeper, said political advisers as they seemed back at an extraordinary year that imagine the economy nosedive, beings confined to their homes and joblessness for millions, including high-end executives and migrant workers, while COVID-1 9 continued its spread. The manner was set on March 24, 2020 itself when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation in the evening and announced a lockdown from midnight, setting off panic through “the two countries ” with many parties put far from home and many others ill-prepared for what the days ahead would bring. The decision “re coming back” for abrupt analysi from Opposition parties such as the Congress and the Left. One large-hearted intellect for the deeper divide was the government taking decisions to fight the pandemic unilaterally, especially in the initial phase, concurred political commentators Sanjay Kumar and Rasheed Kidwai. Sanjay K Pandey, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University( JNU) and a political reporter, nonetheless, said the opposition must also share the blame for the polarising dialogue as it could have played a more constructive role. All these issues, he said, has become a confrontational one and that is not health for Indian politics. “The pandemic has shown the limitations of a government( globally) and likewise their significance as we can see the vaccine programme on which the Indian government has done well, ” he told PTI. The government and Opposition should both stop playing politics as both are equally responsible, Pandey contributed. Kumar, co-director of Lokniti, a research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Civilization, said citizens miss all parties to come together when the country is in a crisis. So when the lockdown was foisted, it was expected the Opposition would not be critical. Instead, Opposition parties came down heavily on government decisions. “The reason was very simple — if you recollect the first lockdown, there was hardly any consultation with the Opposition parties or chief ministers. If you do a lockdown, there are various stakeholders , none of them were consulted, ” he told PTI. “Later on, when the lockdown was extended…consultation started taking place, but the damage was already done, ” he said. As current realities of COVID-1 9 set in, diverse sentiments and societal discord over issues such as the Citizenship( Amendment) Act went into the backburner. People began the difficult process of coming to calls with an unprecedented place, but their political leaders continued the slugfest. While the Opposition, led by the Congress, accused the government of omission and reacting late to the public health crisis, the BJP-led Centre strenuously scorned the charges and asserted that the early imposition of the lockdown helped get the situation under control. The time was punctuated by fierce squabbling on a variety of issues. The prime minister’s ‘taali-thaali’ call to honour ‘COVID-1 9 warriors’ and the lighting of ‘diyas’ was attacked by several Opposition captains, including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Scenes of migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres, numerous without any footwear, stony-broke hearts and rekindled a sarcastic response with Opposition chairwomen accusing the authorities concerned of being forgetful to their plight. The Centre, however, alleged the lockdown was necessary to save lives and had been prescribed with suitable the planning and execution. While Gandhi came down hard on the authorities concerned for its lockdown programme and handling of the migrant crisis, the decree BJP accused him of make “politics of misery” over the issue of migrants. It was not all Covid referred of course. Who can forget the uproar in the Rajya Sabha during the passage of the contentious farm statutes that led to the suspension of eight Opposition MPs for the remainder of the session. The suspended chairwomen contained an overnight sit-in in the Parliament complex, an bout that encounter high-pitched drama with Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh fetching tea for them in the morning. Almost every issue envisioned the BJP and the Opposition gatherings squaring off in a no-holds-barred attack and bar attack – from the Hathras rape case and the farmer affirms to the package for economic recovery announced by the government and doing away with Question Hour in the Monsoon Session. Asked if the political discourse had become more acerbic post-lockdown, Kidwai answered in the affirmative and claimed the reason was that the government decided on steps to fight the pandemic “unilaterally”. Like in all other sectors, politics also took time to understand the magnitude of the pandemic. With legislators unable to meet physically with the media and speak out against or for the government, they realised that online news conference were the way forward to procreate themselves heard. What followed was a slew of online press interactions, from both the Opposition and the find National Democratic Alliance. Online sparring through memes, tweets and posting of videos became the new normal. However, it was business as usual in the Bihar polls. Despite talk from both the NDA and the Opposition that campaigning would be digital, the reality was quite the opposite. As the elections approached in October-November, the BJP, Janata Dal( United ), Rashtriya Janata Dal( RJD) and the Congress started by view virtual revivals. But that was short-lived. Soon, a big physical safarus blitzkrieg began and none seemed to care about the pandemic. Though political action did transformation significantly into the virtual cavity post-lockdown, the Bihar polls were an example of legislators not being able to stick to the online campaign template, Kumar said. Pandey and Kidwai agreed that the increasing trend of online and social media stages being used for political messaging increased with the beginning of the pandemic.