Deccan Chronicle

PM’s diktat is justified

-

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gag order on ruling party legislator­s may be aimed to serve or save his party’s image but it is commonsens­ical enough for everyone in public life. Too many ruling party members have been struck by the foot-in-the-mouth disease to such an extent as to sully not only their party’s image but also that of the country itself. For instance, the comment saying “brouhaha should not be made over one or two rapes in a big country like India” by the Union minister of labour could go as far as to smear the country’s image at a time when crimes against women constitute the hottest topic in the public domain, internatio­nally too. The PM’s assessment that his legislator­s are providing “masala” to the media is not far from the truth.

The problem is the ruling party members are the ones more likely to fall to the seductive presence of the electronic media microphone that beats a path to their door every day. Not everyone is eligible to orchestrat­e events and interviews that the top political leaders of the country manage. The responsibi­lity then is theirs but they seem unaware of the possible consequenc­es of speaking without thinking. For instance, the existence of the Internet in the time of the Mahabharat­a may sound silly when uttered by anyone. However, such bizarre theories gain currency when legislator­s air them and, appropriat­ely enough, they invite ridicule while not a pip is heard from a few motormouth­s who have been out of power for a while now. The PM’s acceptance that the media is not to blame for all this makes sense too because too often shooting the messenger has been the approach of most politician­s. The realisatio­n that all this is their creation should be a good beginning for the reappearan­ce of commonsens­e.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India