Metaphor minefield

The Roller of Law. That’s what Lalu Prasad Yadav,that artful spinner of metaphors,wishes us to believe that he wanted to crush Varun Gandhi under — and would have,if he were minister for home affairs. Of course,that’s a expansion that took place after the fact: Lalu’s original words came across as a lot harsher: “destroyed him without caring for the consequences.” Whether or not the words reflected a renewed commitment to the rule of law,what certainly is true is that they were an accurate reflection of the level at which political speech in this election has suddenly become pitched since the eruption of Varun’s hate-filled speeches into our national discourse.

Varun’s words were inexcusable. But he is a 28-year-old first-timer,far from central to our politics. The leaders of our political parties should have been able to avoid the temptation to lower themselves to the level of easy viciousness or crassness. Instead we get remarks of the tenor of those from the Andhra Congress’s D. Srinivas,who apparently threatened to cut off Varun’s hands; and of Lalu’s absolutely appalling remarks — as well as,of course,Mayawati and Maneka Gandhi trying to one-up each other and Rabri Devi attacking Nitish Kumar and Rajiv Ranjan Singh “Lallan”. Not to forget BJP President Rajnath Singh who threatened to “draw a noose” around the UP government if the BJP regained power.

But these are just words,you might say. Metaphors stretched to make a point,examples of the sort of rough-and-tumble political speech that plays in the provinces. That’s irrelevant to the fact that allowing the conversation to deteriorate in this manner does have real-world consequences — such as the detention of Varun Gandhi under the NSA,for example. Is that the “legal roller” Lalu had in mind? Is it the case that once words like “crushed” are in the public domain the only way in which the conversation can be moved forward is through the doubtful deployment of laws such as the NSA? Is an FIR against a considered move or just a copycat application of the law set off by the Varun episode? Because despicable as words used in campaign speeches can be,and each time their utterance must be condemned,we are now seeing the problem in using random legal instruments to counter them. The danger is the unthinking issue of warrants of arrest by state governments to curb political opponents. That way is anarchy.