THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - September 26, 2018 - Topic 2

Language matters: on Amit Shah's 'termite' remark

The process of filing claims and objections by persons left out of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam began on Tuesday, in an atmosphere fraught with uncertainty about the documentation needed and possible recourse for those who may ultimately not clear the final list. In the draft published on July 30, as many as 40 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants found their names missing. It is vital that the state do all it can to create an enabling environment to assist people grappling with paperwork and bureaucracy to assert their claim to being legitimate citizens of India. 

It is equally important that the government, in Assam and at the Centre, think the future through humanely and practically in regard to those who may remain off the final list. These persons will have many levels of appeal as next resort — but India needs to officially give the assurance that it will not condemn undocumented immigrants, who lack wherewithal and are the most unfortunate victims of poverty and South Asia’s complicated history, to their own devices. This empathy is in keeping with India’s tradition of giving refuge to those who have nowhere to go. It is disturbing that instead, even as the finalisation of the NRC is on, the register is becoming a pretext for political outreach based on xenophobia and demographic messaging. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is also in power in Assam, are freely recommending NRCs across India, and using the process in Assam to create new fault lines.

This weekend, at a public meeting in Delhi, the BJP president, Amit Shah, rallied the crowd by referring to infiltrators allegedly in the country, claiming they were eating away at India’s future. The comparison he made for this eating away from within was with “deemak” (Hindi for termites). Mr. Shah has, of late, dwelt many times on the need to identify illegal immigrants in the country, whose numbers he says are in crores. This has already drawn a response from Bangladesh, with Minister of Information Hasanul Haq Inu calling Mr. Shah’s comments “unwanted”, and also reiterating Bangladesh’s position that the NRC exercise is India’s internal matter. Mr. Inu has also referred to Delhi’s own communication, including from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, that the NRC process is India’s internal issue. Beyond the data and diplomacy angles, there must be concern about the language being employed. Analogies to pests that attack a society from within are the staple of dangerous polarising rhetoric. The use of the NRC in electoral rhetoric is even more dangerous. Regrettably, the BJP seems determined to proceed with such mobilisation, knowing full well the damage it will cause to Indian society.

Vocabulary

Fraught: causing or affected by great anxiety or stress.

Example: There was a fraught silence

Synonyms: anxious, worried, stressed, upset, distraught, overwrought, worked up

Uncertainty: the state of being uncertain.

Example: Times of uncertainty and danger

Synonyms: unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness, chanciness, precariousness

Assist: help someone, typically by doing a share of the work.

Example: A senior academic would assist him in his work

Synonyms: help, aid, lend a helping hand to, oblige, accommodate, serve

Resort: a place that is a popular destination for vacations or recreation, or which is frequented for a particular purpose.

Example: A seaside resort

Synonyms: vacation spot, tourist center, vacationland, retreat, spa

Condemn: express complete disapproval of, typically in public

Example: Fair-minded people declined to condemn her on mere suspicion

Synonyms: censure, criticize, denounce, revile, blame, chastise, berate

Complicate: make something more difficult or confusing by causing it to be more complex.

Example: Middlemen can complicate the process

Synonyms: make (more) difficult, make complicated, mix up, confuse, muddle

Dwelt: live in or at a specified place.

Example: Groups of gypsies still dwell in these caves

Synonyms: reside, live, be settled, be housed, lodge, stay, put up

Concern: a matter of interest or importance to someone.

Example: Oil reserves are the concern of the Energy Department

Synonyms: responsibility, business, affair, charge, duty, job, province, preserve

Rhetoric: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.

Example: Born into a rich provincial family, he studied philosophy as well as rhetoric and law.

Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, command of language, way with words