JAY JOSHI
The election season is finally upon us. It is a time when a number of public meetings and rallies are held in large numbers as campaigning begins in full force. From heavyweights to local bigwigs, politicians deliver a flurry of speeches. Now, how much impact these speeches have on the electorate is a different question, but there are times during such events when politicians end up making statements that are not exactly logical or intelligent. We are not going to get into what these statements are, but all of them do bring to mind one simple question: Why do politicians make such statements?
“The quality of our political discourse indeed needs to improve”, says Raj Salgaonkar, a freelance journalist from Canacona. “Many times, our politicians do not have deep knowledge of the issues the masses face, or they are incapable of solving the problem or answering tough questions relating to these problems. Hence, they will simply make a general statement and kick the can down the road for the time being. And this statement would be completely off the mark,” avers Raj, adding that the issues has much deeper roots. “It is we who have failed as a society if we have leaders who say such things. We must question them, and elect better, more educated and sophisticated leaders, but people do not question powerful politicians. Instead, they keep electing the same leaders over and over again. This has to change.”
Andrew Barreto, a professor from Margao also reinforces the same line of thought. “ Many of our politicians do not study important issues, but find themselves in circumstances where they have to comment on these issues. They are just like us regular folks who have listened to brief news reports or heard the street gossip” says Barreto, but concedes that not all politicians are like this. “There are some politicians who are good orators, and audience actually stands to gain some insights from the comments they make.”
Subhash Jan, a teacher from Ponda however, feels that the politicians do it deliberately. “They want publicity and popularity, and intend to gain it by stoking the emotions of illiterate or under-literate masses,” states Jan, but Siddharth Dalvi, a political analyst from Panaji feels that the game of comments is not what it seems.
“I do not believe that such statements are just a slip of tongue” says Siddharth.
“Politics is a high-stake game, and every move here is well thought-out. Let us not forget that there are teams of workers who handle PR and publicity; there are people who analyse the political impact of what you say. Scuh statements could be intentional and deliberate moves. They whip up controversy for a couple of days, but they linger for a long time in the minds of people. It is possible that such statements are intended to reach a specific group of audience, and they find their mark,” Siddharth elaborates He further cites that positions such as opposition to English from politicians in Northern states might seem weird to educated people, but could be popular with certain sections of the populace.
They provoke reactions and counter-reactions, but such statements by our leaders keep coming, and entertaining people. All things said and done, such instances only underline the fact that our political discourse indeed needs to improve.
