The descent into unsavoury personal attacks have long been a part of our politics.
When politicians hurl personal shots at each other, you know there is a heated election around the corner. And we are at it again. With Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh headed towards heated poll battles, personal barbs have replaced policy as the rhetoric of choice.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long been a controversial figure and has been the frequent target of personal attacks from the opposition as his political star continued to rise. Most recently, senior Congress leader Vilasrao Muttemwar called Modi's pedigree into account, saying no one knew Modi's father while everyone in the country knows five generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family that runs his party.
Here are 10 instances when politics got down and dirty with personal attacks:
1. Chaiwala: In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had repeatedly played up his humble origins. Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Bhalchandra Mungekar referred to him as 'chaiwala' in a derogatory manner.
2. Neech aadmi: Mani Shankar Aiyar went at PM Modi again in December 2017, calling him 'neech admi'. That quickly went sour considering its casteist overtones.
3. Chowkidar chor hai: This is from this elections season. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi passed this remark repeatedly, in reference to the Rafale deal controversy and allegations of Modi's favourable treatment of some industrialists. Again, the controversy was sparked by the apparently 'lowly' reference to the PM.
4. Naamdaar: Narendra Modi dishes out personal attacks just as he takes them. His response to the 'chowkidar' remark was to belittle Rahul Gandhi as 'naamdar'.
5. Shahzada: Modi has time and again made fun of Rahul Gandhi as 'shahzada', or prince. This was a regular feature of his tirades against the apparent nepotism of the Congress's brand of politics.
6. 50 crore rupee girlfriend: Modi called Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, a '50 crore rupee girlfriend'. The inscrutable Tharoor quipped back that his wife was priceless.
7. Goongi gudiya: Socialist icon called Indira Gandhi 'goongi gudiya' (dumb doll). However, he wouldn't live long enough afterward to see her first take over her party with an iron fist, then seize the country with the Emergency.
8. Actress, mistress, lesbian: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa fought more than just the rugged political battles, she had to stand up to the misogyny that's inherent in our politics. From attacks on the actress's allegedly loose morals early in her career to the nature of her relationship with her political mentor MG Ramachandran, she weathered heaps of personal abuse and then some. Later in life, she would even become the subject of hushed speculation that she was a lesbian.
9. Italian barmaid: In Indian politics, pasta is apparently not kosher. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has faced waves and waves of criticism over her Italian heritage. Her relatively humble beginnings before her marriage to a scion of India's top political dynasty is an repeated insult by her opponents.
10. Digvijaya Singh and Amrita Rai: The senior Congress leader and the television anchor came in waves of snide remarks in 2015, when they acknowledged their relationship in public and later married. Much of the personal tirade against the two centred around the age difference between them.
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 "Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi have often exchanged personal barbs.")
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