The language used by Prime Minister Modi is becoming an embarrassment

A few years down the line when a historian is compiling an anthology of great sayings, statements or speeches by Indian prime ministers, what might we expect?

Of course, I think Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's ‘Tryst with Destiny' would be at the top of that list. Then Lal Bahadur Shastri's “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" for encapusulating in four short words the core of the Indian ethos – today there is no doubt that every soldier hails from a family of farmers and keeping these two sections happy and comforted is so very important to the nation.

Mrs Indira Gandhi's “Mere khoon ka ek ek katra is desh ke kam aayega,” will also figure in that anthology. Rajiv Gandhi's statement that India is an old country but a young nation and his dream of making it strong, self-reliant and in the forefront of the nations of the world will also be at the top of the quotable quotes.

Now look at this one from Chandrashekhar – "there comes a time when one has to choose between having to kneel and be blessed or stand up and be counted. I choose the latter."

And this one from PV Narasimha Rao – life is not made to order. You have to take good with the bad and on balance when life has been mostly good (to me) , there is no cause to complain.

And Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, "Democracy is the best guarantor of peace and co-operation among nations." And finally Manmohan Singh. "India happens to be a rich country with very poor people."

Even the less effective prime ministers are quotable. Morarji Desai said, "Life can be easy. Life can be difficult. It depends how you adjust to life."

VP Singh was equally thoughtful. – "The extreme left and extreme right always agree with each other for they think alike."

Even HD Deve Gowda had something quotable to say – No political party can finish off another political party. Neither can we finish off someone else, nor can anybody else finish us.

If you want some profound statements from prominent leaders who never made it to the PMO, Sharad Pawar once said he had seen "many sunrises and sunsets in politics, many good times and bad times but in politics one should not expect big jumps for everything takes time to come to fruition."

Lalu Prasad Yadav said everyone should play their role in tearing down the walls of hatred and Mamata Banerjee thought change is a continuous process. "You cannot assess it with the static yardstick of a limited time frame. When a seed is sown into the ground, you cannot immediately see the plant. You have to be patient. With time, it grows into a large tree. And then the flowers bloom, and only then can the fruits be plucked."

Sonia Gandhi's "together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky," may not relate to Indian politics but it does to unity in the country, family and life as such.

My favourite quote from Rahul Gandhi is, "Indian men have to start viewing women as their equals," and Priyanka Gandhi's, "I do not believe in violence. The answer to violence does not lie in more violence. I believe the answer to violence is ahimsa," is worthy of both Mahatma Gandhi and Gautam Buddha.

As against all these profound, inspirational memorable statements rooted in the Indian polity what do we have from the greatest, strongest, most angelic and charismatic leader of all times that an anthologist might be proud to include in his collection?

“Sonia Gandhi is a Jersey cow and Rahul her hybrid calf.”

"Sunanda Tharoor is Shashi Tharoor's fifty crore girl friend."

"Manmohan Singh bathes with a raincoat on."

And the his shamshan versus kabristan comparisons as also his avowal of the S.T.R.E.A.N.H. of India's relationship with China.

All the Modi quotes that come to mind are cringeworthy and far removed from the dignity of the office of both a chief minister and a prime minister.

But what I have been most shaken up with is his latest statement to voters in Uttar Pradesh that they had eaten his salt and so now they must vote for him.

That is not just cringeworthy but has to be the most conceited, arrogant and pompous statements of all times. As though he is a king or emperor and not an elected politician, as though the provision of facilities, including rations, to the people was a favour done to them personally by him and not the expected duty of the government and as though any of us owe him anything for electing him to office rather than the other way round.

Of course, the general outrage after that statement soon had him on the back foot and after a rather sharp reaction from Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, Modi flipped his comment to say the people had not eaten his salt but he had eaten theirs. But by then no one was impressed.

Modi was never fit for the office of a prime minister and he is fast becoming an embarrassment to even the RSS. His ministers have made fools of themselves abroad as they went to escort Indian students from Ukraine back to the country and even here he has been pretentious, posing as their saviour when it is true that past governments have evacuated far more Indians directly from war zones than these students who had to make their way to neighbouring countries to board their flights home.

I cringed when a mere Mayor in Romania labelled Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia a liar for claiming credit for the help provided by the Romanian government to Indian students – I remember being a nobody in Romania and still received a lot of help and respect from Romanian government officials simply because they fondly recalled Nehru and his leadership of the non-aligned movement and envied India its independence and democracy.

Obviously, that respect has all disappeared under Modi – perhaps it will be restored once Modi gets the opportunity to hug the Romanian president but going by current levels of disrespect for his ministers, I find that hard to believe.

For myself, though, I wish my Prime Minister had more dignity and intelligence and was not merely an uneducated RSS Pracharak whose language is often more suitable for the streets rather than the refined portals of diplomacy and democracy.

( The writer is Consulting Editor, National Herald, Mumbai. Views are personal)