From TINA to RITA and everything between: The amazing world of Indian political acronyms
TINA became a ‘TINA factor’ and worked in favour of Narendra Modi in 2014.
When Kishore Kumar composed Eena Meena Deeka, it became a straight hit owing to the beat, the crazy, comic onomatopoeia which most of his songs were known for.
Years later, we are finding some similar words floating across social media — apparently nonsense, but actually carrying heavier political messages ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
For example, MINA and RITA.
No, they are not names.
MINA stands for 'Modi Is No Alternative'
RITA stands for 'Rahul Is The Alternative'
Well, they do not follow the usual rules of acronyms or abbreviations where articles do not get represented in the shorter form. But that’s how they are.
Our very own political ‘Eena Meena Deeka’.
If MINA and RITA are now topping the list after the Congress’s victory in the assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states, TINA, which has an interesting origin rooted in international history, remains the mother of all.
TINA stands for 'There Is No Alternative'.
The origin goes back to British intellectual Herbert Spencer. ‘There Is No Alternative’ was his frequent reply to critics of capitalism, free markets and democracy. Eventually, ‘TINA’ became the nickname of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, because she stood for the idea that there was no alternative to her version of capitalism, free trade, etc. No debate could even be held over these issues as ‘There Is No Alternative’.
An idea originally belonging to economics thus travelled far and adopted political connotations: In 1988, an India Today poll revealed that ‘There Is No Alternative’ to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress.
Gradually, in Indian politics, TINA became a ‘TINA factor’ and worked in favour of Narendra Modi in 2014 as well.
The same factor is being cited again ahead of the Lok Sabha elections — but then, there are RITA, MINA and a multi-pronged attack of similar catchphrases.
Like, ITNA — Is There No Alternative?
So from TINA to AITA? There Is No Alternative to Anybody Is The Alternative. Well, if you all open up your mind you will see RITA. Rahul Is The Alternative. https://t.co/FExUg84Jqd
— Sanjukta (@sanjukta) September 9, 2018
This phrase must be a phase which TINA-haters (not using the much-used term) went through before they discovered that there is RITA.
Coming up with BINA was easy, as we already had MINA.
So, BINA is 'BJP Is No Alternative'.
But then, probably some RITA-haters (again, not using the much-used term) came up with MOM — which stands for 'Modi Once More'.
Now that you are familiar with most of the terms, here’s a stolen joke from Twitter, which we don’t promote anyway.
It can be just a test of your political acronym skill.
‘In 2019, NaMo once more, not because of TINA, but because of RITA’
Meanwhile, there was SITA ('Sonia Is The Alternative') for a brief period before 2014 as well.
IOU ('Index of Opposition Unity') — the most boring acronym of the lot — is making a comeback again. It used to denote a coalition of smaller parties against the Grand Old Party.
But in 2019, the Congress may want to be part of IOU.
Aiyo! (A legit Oxford Dictionary word. Don’t ‘south India’ me!)
There are a few others like AOMB ('Any One But Modi') and AITA ('Anyone Is The Alternative'), which should not be left out of the list just because they are not interesting.
Alongside, btw, won't 'Bharat Mata Ki Jay' become BiJay as well then?
Whatever it is, we are loving this symbolic women's empowerment through TINA, MINA, RITA — and are ignoring all the men in politics as well as the 'be a man'-wala politics.
We have only one acronym for that.
WEVR ('Whatever').