War of acronyms in UP polls shows big vocabulary and limited vision of our politicians
There seems to be no let-up in the acronym fever this poll season.
In the 2015 Bihar elections, we saw a different kind of "name game" — distorting abbreviations of party names. It all started when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said JD(U) stands for Janata ka Daman and Utpidan" party and RJD means "Rozana ke Jangalraj ka Dar".
Countering the prime minister, Nitish Kumar said the BJP stands for Badka Jhootha (big liar) Party".
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| Shah has urged people not to vote for "Kasab — Ka for Congress, Sa for Samajwadi and B for BSP". |
In the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections, it was again the prime minister who started coining new acronyms. On February 4, while addressing a public rally in Meerut, Modi said "scam" is an acronym for Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. In his typically interactive style he asked the public: "Do you know what 'scam' stands for?" He then answered: "It is 'S' for Samajwadi Party, 'C' for Congress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati."
On the same day, the Samajwadi Party came up with a counter analogy — "Sirf Communal Amit Shah-Modi" — while Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi alleged that one who is in the wrong sees scam in everything. He went a notch "higher": “S in fact stands for ‘service’, C for ‘courage’, A for 'ability’ and M for ‘modesty’."
Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan, however, wasn't as kind as Gandhi. He said, "Scam means Sattabhogi (hungry for power), Kapti dhongi (fraudster) and Amit Shah Modi,".
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| The Samajwadi Party came up with a counter analogy for Modi's version of SCAM with "Sirf Communal Amit Shah-Modi". |
The Congress also came up with six other abbreviations for the BJP. It said the BJP is a party that represented — Bhagora Judao Party (party of turncoats), Bhai-bhatijawad Party (party of nepotism), Bhaichara Jalao Party (party that promotes enmity), Brashtrachar Jagao Party (party that promotes corruption), Bhramjaal Party and Bhram Jagao Party (party that creates illusion).
It was again the prime minister's turn to come up with the next acronym. So on February 20, addressing a rally in Jalaun, Modi mocking Mayawati's opposition to note ban, said the BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party but "Behenji Sampatti Party" (Behenji Assets Party).
Mayawati hit back with "the prime minister has compelled me to define Narendra Damodardas Modi as "Mr Negative Dalit Man". She elaborated: "Narendra stands for 'negative', Damodardas means 'Dalit' and Modi is 'man'." She said, "I have given the definition of the prime minister taking into consideration his work and behaviour."
In a latest in the ongoing series, BJP president Amit Shah likened the BJP's rivals to the terrorist who became the face of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. On February 22, Shah urged people not to vote for "KASAB — Ka for Congress, Sa for Samajwadi and B for BSP".
Reacting to this, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: "Need to end acronyms, statement shows BJP's repulsive thinking. It shows party's communal mindset."
Modi is known for his penchant for coining acronyms. In 2014, campaigning for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the newly elected prime minister said the NCP is "Naturally Corrupt Party". NCP chief Sharad Pawar, instead of countering him with another acronym, said Modi was undermining the dignity of the PM's post by making such "personal attacks".
But in Bihar and UP, Modi's opponents are not as restrained. They believe in throwing stones for every brick hurled. The way it is going in Uttar Pradesh, every party in the fray seems to be working overtime to come up with a "better" (read worse) acronym than the last.
As the war of acronyms continues, it has only exposed the big vocabulary and limited vision of our politicians.