NEW DELHI: Long confined to street-corner arguments, village chaupals and late-night college addas, cuss words such as ‘b…sdi’ and ‘g…u’ found a place in mainstream political discourse on Wednesday, with Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut using them at a presser to describe defectors, and then telling reporters, “Don’t cut it, run it.“When questioned on his language, Rajya Sabha MP Raut was unrepentant: “This is how it is used in Maharashtra… I am the editor of Saamana, I know the language.”The remark marks a new low in political discourse, though profanity has increasingly been normalised in public forums. Once used to express rage or, at times, affection, abuses have become markers of cool. They feature prominently in stand-up comedy, Bollywood films such as ‘Dev D’, ‘Gulaal’ and ‘Omkara’, and many OTT shows. On social media, abusive language is frequently used to target people, especially women. A 2019 Amnesty study found that one in seven tweets directed at women netas in India was either “problematic or abusive”.As reports emerged that six to seven of Sena UBT’s nine LS MPs were preparing to walk out, Raut branded the suspected rebels “cowardly foxes” and mocked their flight to Delhi on a chartered plane.Yet the bravado sat oddly beside his insistence that nobody was defecting. Raut repeatedly claimed a “wrong picture is being painted”and that all 11 MPs, including two RS members, remained “100% with Thackeray”.Raut earlier alleged each MP was offered Rs 15 crore to defect. On Wednesday, he escalated the charge, claiming each defector was promised Rs 50 crore, with Rs 15 crore paid as advance. He alleged that Dharashiv MP Omraje Nimbalkar was offered a favourable verdict in his father’s murder case to switch sides.Raut, Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai met Speaker Om Birla and submitted a letter arguing that a breakaway “group” cannot merge. The letter invoked the anti-defection law and the party’s pending SC battle over the “real Shiv Sena”. Birla assured them rules would be followed.Meanwhile, suspected rebels remained in Delhi and were expected to seek recognition as a separate group backing the Shinde-led Sena. Minister Uday Samant said leaders from Sena (UBT) would cross over “in phases”.
