Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is seen as the architect of India’s economic reforms during the PV Narasimha Rao rule that paved the way for the country’s economic growth. But besides economics, his other abiding interest was ‘shayari’ and he often employed verses to launch attacks on political rivals inside and outside the Parliament.
These poetry attacks drew loud cheers from both the treasury and the Opposition benches in times when humour, and not hostility, dominated the mood in Parliament. Mr Singh‘s shayari strikes found their worthy match in the 15th Lok Sabha. From 2009-14, BJP stalwart, late Sushma Swaraj, was the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the ‘jugalbandi’ of ‘shayari’ between the two was nothing less than a delight.
In March 2011, the Parliament erupted over a Wikileaks cable that accused the then ruling Congress of bribing MPs during the 2008 trust vote. Leading the Opposition charge, Ms Swaraj targeted the Prime Minister with Shahab Jafari’s famous lines, “You don’t talk about debt here, tell why the caravan fought, it is not because of the human beings, it is the question of your leadership..” The lines roughly translate to: “Don’t change the topic, just say why the caravan was looted, we have nothing to say about the robbers, but this is a question on your leadership.”
The Prime Minister replied with Allama Iqbal‘s couplet that drew a smile from Ms Swaraj and cheers from the House. “I believe that I am not worthy of what you did, you see my love, see my wait.” (I know I am not worth your attention, but look at my longing.”
Another war of couplets broke out between the two leaders in 2013 during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
In a sweet attack on the Opposition, former Prime Minister Singh used Mirza Ghalib’s lines, “Humein hopes for death from those who do not know what death is.” (We expect loyalty from those who don’t know what loyalty is.”
The Leader of the Opposition responded with two shers. The first one was by Bashir Badr. “Kuch to majority rahi hongi, yun hi koi bewafa nahi hota (There must be a reason for betraying love)”
In her second shayari strike, she added, “You don’t remember your life, you don’t remember Humein, these stars decide life or death, you don’t remember a human, you don’t remember a humein.“. The lines translate to “you don’t remember loyalty and we don’t remember disloyalty, life and death have two rhythms, you don’t remember one, we don’t remember the other.”
When Ms Swaraj died in August 2019, Dr Singh had described her as a great parliamentarian and an exceptionally talented Union minister. “I was shocked to hear about the sudden demise of Sushma Swaraj. I have fond memories of my association with her when she was Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha,” he had said.
With Dr Singh gone today, the two leaders and their ‘shayari jugalbandi’ will now live only in our memories of a less-polarised political discourse when debates in Parliament saw less chaos and more cheers.
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