By Karan Thapar

I was brought up in an age when it was assumed prime ministers would do the right and honourable thing. And if the PM said it, it was bound to be correct. Terminological inexactitudes were, no doubt, common but my parents would never have believed Jawaharlal Nehru indulged in them. In an old fashioned sort of way he was considered a paragon.

We’ve travelled a long distance since the fifties and sixties. These days there’s nothing you would not expect of a politician and prime ministers are no longer considered different, leave aside superior, to other hacks. The respect and, even, admiration that was commonplace in the decade after independence has more or less completely disappeared. ‘Sab chor hain’ (they’re all thieves) is more likely to be the prevailing sentiment.

And yet, even in my most pessimistic and darkest moods, I would never have thought I would hear a prime minister attack and demonize a sizeable section of his own fellow citizens. And find ways of repeating it. Artfully, his admirers might say, but multiple times. And seem to enjoy doing so and feel justified and vindicated. Otherwise, surely, he would have stopped, may by corrected himself and, possibly, expressed regret? But that hasn’t happened, whilst the re-iterations, public, forceful and from changing locations, continue.

Let me repeat what was originally said and then ask yourself is my response understandable or exaggerated? According to the Indian Express these were the exact words spoken in hindi: “Pehle jab unki sarkar thi, unhone kaha tha ki desh ki sampati par pehla adhikar musalmano ka hai. Iska matlab, ye sampati ikkathi karke kisko baatenge? Jinkke zyada bacche hain, unko baatenge, ghuspaithyon ko baatenge. Kya aapki mehnat ki kamayi ka paisa ghuspaithyon ko diya jayega? Aapko manzoor he yeh?” (Earlier when they (the Congress) were in power they had said muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators. Should your hard earned money be given to infiltrators? Do you agree to this?)

So, who are these people who have “more children”? Who are these people who have been called “infiltrators”? Isn’t it clear and, even, obvious from the first sentence? Can there be any doubt? And who are these “musalman” mentioned in that sentence? Are they not the muslims of India, our fellow citizens, with equal rights and liberties to every one of us? Or could they be foreigners, outsiders, aliens?

Now, what’s your answer to my question? Am I naïve to express shock? And to be, in fact, shaken? Or would you have expected such allegations from any of our prime ministers?

I know Donald Trump often speaks like this but when he does he makes us cringe. In the late ’60s Enoch Powell spoke like this in Britain but the country’s establishment turned its back on him. And no doubt the Pragya Singh Thakurs and Sadvi Ritambaras of our generation revel in such rhetoric but they only invite contempt and derision.

There’s something else that’s surprised me though by now I accept my credulity has probably taken a serious hit in your eyes. It’s the response of our media. If there has been, I haven’t noticed dismay, certainly not revulsion. Maybe I read the wrong papers and watch the wrong television channels but my impression is that what’s been said has been taken in its stride. If not accepted, at least not remarked upon. Definitely not criticized. I find that almost hard to believe except I think it’s undeniable. Again, would you agree?

I’m sorry I’ve posed a lot of questions today and given you very few answers. But I don’t want to impose my views. Instead, I want you to reflect. So forgive one last question: is it fitting – no, more accurately, is it morally correct – for the prime minister of a secular democracy to speak of fellow citizens of a different faith in this manner?