Who’s the lesser evil?

Uttar Pradesh (UP) politics hit a new low last week when state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and chief minister Mayawati outdid each other in making tasteless remarks against their own gender.

Joshi has since been booked under several sections of the IPC for insulting and humiliating the scheduled caste — that is, Mayawati, a Dalit.

Maya, too, was accused of making similar statements and offering money to raped women when Mulayam Singh was CM. But just because she said some horrifying things about women earlier, others do not get a licence to say similar things.

So, who is the lesser evil? The truth is, Joshi had no business to talk the way she did. She must be criticised by both men and women for her incredible lack of taste, and severely chastised by her party.

But while subjecting Joshi to the political equivalent of the third degree, the Congress must mount a campaign against Mayawati in UP and question her use of public money. (Rahul Gandhi, perhaps, did that in Amethi last week, asking if the UP CM should spend more money on her statues or on providing electricity and other public amenities.)
The Congress has a great opportunity, as the main opposition in UP, to talk about governance issues in the state, even as it apologises to the people for Joshi’s tasteless remark. A state-wide campaign will show that the party is responsive, that it believes in liberal and progressive values and is not afraid to stand up for them.

Meanwhile, Maya could take a long and hard look at what her party espouses and what it has delivered. Clutching at a stupid mistake of one Congress member, and projecting it as an insult to Dalits, will benefit only for a few days.

The fact is, the Congress was able to offer a real alternative to the people of UP in the general election and Mayawati should take note of that challenge. Instead of booking Joshi, Mayawati should have taken the matter to people’s court.

The sympathy she would have gained as a result would have trashed Joshi’s reputation and considerably damaged the Congress. But by using a rocket launcher to kill a fly, Mayawati is only confirming the reputation she’s beginning to acquire — that of an empress with an arsenal of tantrums.