With six of the nine-phase Parliamentary election already completed, the war of words between the Congress, which has been heading the UPA Government since 2004, and the BJP has become more fierce and the fireworks promise to escalate further in the next two weeks.

As the Congress and BJP leaders crisscross the length and breadth of the country to woo the voters, the wordy duel appears to worse further even with the Election Commission issuing a series of orders to reign in the political leaders from making hate speeches.

With the television channels continuously bringing in this ranting into our living rooms, the acrimony appears to have crossed all limits of decency. “If this is what you call democracy, it is not worth it,” commented a housewife disgusted at the level of the continuing diatribes.

“What people of this country have heard and read during the last few weeks was a feedback on the quality of leadership, spread across the whole political spectrum, which displayed no respect for public decency,” remarked a retired college teacher.

Otherwise, how can you explain BJP leader Giriraj Singh saying, “Those opposed to (Narendra) Modi have a place in Pakistan and not in India.” People, in a democracy, have the right to opt for any political party or leader. Another leader, rather unknown, belonging to the Congress, had this string of “pearls” shooting out of his mouth at a rally in Saharanpur, “If Modi tries to make Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat, I will chop him into tiny pieces.”

Any sane Indian is bound to chuckle as to what is happening to the country. But more is in store.

Amit Shah, said to be Modi’s Man Friday, who was pulled up by the Election Commission and temporarily debarred from campaigning, spoke about ‘badla’ (revenge) and protecting ‘izzat’ (honour) while asserting that this election is about “voting out the Government that protects and gives compensation to those who killed Jats.”

While Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah described Modi as a ‘Narahantaka (a mass murderer), Samajwadi Party leader and UP Minister Azam Khan triggered a huge controversy when he claimed during the campaign that it was not Hindus who conquered Kargil but Muslim soldiers who did it. The Election Commission restrained him from addressing election rallies, but Khan remained defiant.

Senior Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma said, “It’s the duty of all Hindus and Muslims to guard the country and its democracy from dogs. If Rahul Gandhi becomes PM, Modi will be in jail in six months.” The BJP was not bemused.

If this was not enough, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, whose dabbling in politics is not of recent origin, put his foot in the mouth when he made the “honeymoon and picnic” remark while launching a personal attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Dalit organisations were out on the streets demanding action against Ramdev prompting the Election Commission to ban him from holding meetings in lucknow till May 16, the date of counting of votes. The Baba, however, promptly issued an apology to the Dalit community.

The virulent war of words between the Congress and the BJP continued unabated with Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav lampooning Modi’s statement in Uttar Pradesh that “a 56-inch chest” is a prerequisite to turn UP into a developed State as Gujarat. Though the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate’s target was Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, the JD(U) leader posed, “Are you in politics or in wrestlingIJ”

Priyanka Gandhi, who has been campaigning for Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul, joined the cacophony of words by stating, “A 56-inch chest is not needed to run this country. What is needed is a big heart.”

The BJP was ready with a repartee in quick time when Ravi Shankar Prasad asked, “Someone talks about a big heart. Whose big heart helped Robert Vadra establish his empire in such a short spanIJ”

The Congress also did not approve of Modi’s frequent reference to Rahul Gandhi at poll meetings as the “Shehzada” saying the use of language in a democracy should be dignified. But Priyanka’s comment that the BJP was behaving like ‘Baukhlaye hue choohe” (panic-stricken rats) was yet to earn a response.

As the politicians and sundry sympathisers belonging to religious or social organisations continued to fire a variety of epithets from their mouths, the Election Commission had to read the riot act issuing repeated orders to hold them in check.

Is it necessary that political leaders in their frenzied efforts to capture power in an election, in which the main battle is being fought between Modi and his supporters and the rest, should descend to such lowsIJ People in other parts of the world watching this nation’s election campaign might be thinking this, perhaps was, the country’s culture!

There are other democracies in the world as well, but they might not be having elections at the scale that we have. The political rivalry there is also intense, but one wonders if things are done in a much more sober way and whether people get as personal as we do. Perhaps no mass hysteria sweeps them as we are witnessing now in our country.

Winning elections is important, but that should not be at the cost of personal relations. Can’t we have a little grace to address our rivals more respectfullyIJ

The problem appears to be this: The political stars are hardly able to infuse confidence into their constituents with their promises. So, the next best they can do is to tear at their opponents and pull out skeletons from their cupboard if they can. Towering political personalities of yore, whose words spelt wisdom, are no longer visible on the political horizon. So, this kind of “discourse” has to be heard and endured!

(The writer is a Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist)