The name Digvijay Singh, in the light of his statements, can either infuse a strong sense of condescension in your mind, or can make you laugh out loud. That man has an uncanny ability to stay in the limelight, but for the wrong reasons of course. The list of controversial statements made by him seems to be growing with every passing day. And did I tell you that those statements range from being downright ridiculous to preposterous and now, even sexist?
Unless you are naïve enough to believe the opinion of the National Commission for Women chairperson Mamta Sharma who finds nothing offensive in being called ‘sexy’, you would understand the furore over Mr. Singh’s statement regarding Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan as “100 per cent tunch maal.” It is a lewd colloquial phrase used in north India to mean ‘sexy’ or ‘desirable item’. Not surprisingly, the Congress decided to downplay the embarrassing incident citing the age-old ‘it-was-meant-as-a-compliment’ excuse, as fortunately for Mr Singh, the term can also be loosely translated as ‘pure’ although it is rarely used in that sense.
But it surely wasn’t just sexism that made the BJP lash out at Mr. Singh, what with the party leaders such as Mr. Vinay Katiyar calling him a “mental case” and Mrs. Meenakshi Lekhi believing his remarks to be a desperate attempt at protecting his “copyright” over making silly statements. The reason so as to why people have stopped taking the Congress leader seriously is primarily because of his penchant for making statements that are immature enough to want either clarification or withdrawal. Within July 2013 itself, Mr. Singh has found himself in more than one foot-in-mouth moments. The sexist remark aside, he had also stated that the Batla House encounter was fake, the judgement of the Delhi Court notwithstanding. As if the speeches weren’t enough, his tweets too spark off controversies. While discussing the recent bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya, he tweeted, “Amit Shah (BJP general secretary) promises a grand temple at Ayodhya. Modi addresses Bihar BJP workers and asks them to teach Nitish (Bihar CM) a lesson… next day, bomb blasts at Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya. Is there a connect? I don’t know.”
However, there is nothing new in these politically incorrect statements. It simply highlights the fact that he hasn’t seemed to have learnt anything from his past experiences. From demanding a proper burial for “Osamaji” to the horror of horrors, stating publicly that the presence of “dual centres of power” (a reference to the Prime Minister and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi) in the Congress has not worked well and that it should be done away with, he has just refused to watch his words.
Not surprising then, that it is the sheer force of his comments that has made him a butt of numerous jokes. I fail to understand as to how can a person who has played an active role in Indian politics and has served under multiple portfolios have such a callous attitude towards his statements. And given the plethora of subjects Mr. Singh has an opinion on, one is forced to believe that whoever said that none is entitled to voice his/her opinions if they aren’t well-informed, clearly hasn’t met this man.