Nair pride political gimmick for BJP-RSS but a deeply personal issue for me: Shashi Tharoor

I feel compelled to write a rebuttal to the news report in ThePrint titled “Nair pride, Sabarimala & elitism — BJP’s recipe to wrest Kerala capital from Shashi Tharoor”, because it offers an uncritical and unchecked platform for those who have been denigrating my Lok Sabha candidature from Thiruvananthapuram through baseless lies. 

While the news report is itself balanced, and includes quotations from me, it embeds videos and screen grabs from the very perpetrators of those allegations, while offering nothing by way of a counter-assessment. The distinction is important: in an age defined by Twitter videos and WhatsApp forwards, can a 1,000-word article, no matter how rigorously edited or fact-checked, be effectively juxtaposed against a 2-minute video? As the saying goes, “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its boots on”, especially if that lie runs on WhatsApp! (Ironically, that quote, apparently from Jonathan Swift, is more widely attributed to Hitler’s chief propagandist Josef Goebbels and the American author Mark Twain, who never said anything of the sort.) 

If the medium is the message, ThePrint should have offered me an opportunity to respond by offering a video of my rebuttals of this canard, or at the very least, embed some independently curated videos that reject these allegations against me. I have been fortunate to receive a wellspring of support from constituents and readers of my books who saw through those lies, and responded with soundbites of their own! 

For instance, a well-wisher, Veena Nair — as her name suggests, a Nair lady in her own right — has put out her own video to respond to the one that ThePrint has embedded in its report. Kanthi Kumar, the grandson of Mannathu Padmanabhan, leading light of the community and founder of the Nair Service Society, came out strongly against the scurrilous rumour that I had insulted Nair women in my fictional book, The Great Indian Novel. “Many authors, including Thakazhi [Sivasankara Pillai], have written about the practice of ‘sambandham’ in the Nair community two centuries ago, and for political detractors to twist Shashi’s 30-year-old novel for the sole purpose of soiling his reputation is unacceptable,” Kanthi has said in his video (also available on Twitter). Kanthi even goes on to say that his grandfather, the legendary Mannathu Padmanabhan, would have been greatly disturbed by such lies against me, and responded strongly to them! 

I am grateful to Kanthi Kumar, Veena Nair, Dhanya Nair, Devi Santhosh and other decent, ordinary individuals who have courageously exposed themselves to vicious trolling and online bigotry for standing up on my behalf. The least ThePrint’s editors could have done is to acknowledge their sincere efforts – their videos may not be in viral circulation unlike the BJP’s money-fuelled lies, but they speak of their integrity, commitment and the desire for a fair evaluation of a political campaign. 

The elections are over in Thiruvananthapuram, and some might ponder the relevance of responding now to the BJP’s scurrilous vilification of me in the Nair community. By all post-poll accounts, the Hindus (Nairs included) of Thiruvananthapuram have largely ignored the RSS and the BJP’s relentless targeting of their pride and sentiments, and seem to have put paid to the Sangh’s aspiration to win the constituency. I am confident that all of Thiruvananthapuram, a constituency comprising a remarkable mix of religions, cultures and ethnicities, has backed my campaign to be re-elected for a third time to Parliament. ThePrint’s article was published just a few days ago as the campaign neared its final phase, and my campaign staff and I could not divert our meagre resources of time or attention to put out a rebuttal to it.

But most importantly, what is a political gimmick for the RSS is a deeply personal issue for me. It is downright unpleasant to be the subject of sustained personal attacks among your own community — I will be the first to admit the BJP’s efforts have probably influenced the perception of at least a few Nairs. I have neither appealed for votes on the basis of any social marker, nor sought out my friendships, professional collaborations or acquaintances based on religion, caste or ethnicity, so it is not the prospect of losing Nair votes that agitates me. It is the fact that my own pride in being — if I may say so, rather immodestly — a civic-minded Malayali, who happens to be Nair, and who has made at least some significant social or political contributions to Malayali society, is being impugned. 

My mother and two sisters were at the forefront of supporting me personally and politically throughout the length and breadth of my campaign — my 83-year old mother takes great pain to stay with me during poll season, and is the pillar of my emotional support during this time. My sisters, though living abroad, travelled with and stumped for me on our campaign vehicle in the sweltering pre-monsoon heat, to distant corners of Thiruvananthapuram. That my own family of strong and empowered Nair women is embarrassed by such allegations pains me greatly. Then there is the strong Nair community of Thiruvananthapuram, which I consider my karmabhoomi, which knows me well and has always stood by me. Its members too are distressed at the vicious and brazen nature of the BJP’s campaign against me.

With the RSS-BJP’s plans to take Thiruvananthapuram likely to bite the dust, the Sangh should understand the importance of conducting a decent, ethical campaign on issues that matter to people. Come 23 May, the people of my constituency will show there is no place for acerbic, personal rumours. One can only hope their rebuke of the BJP will prompt those who have driven their party to character assassination and lies to mend their contemptible ways.

The author is a Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram and former MoS for External Affairs and HRD. He served the UN as an administrator and peacekeeper for three decades. He studied History at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and International Relations at Tufts University. Tharoor has authored 18 books, both fiction and non-fiction; his most recent book is The Paradoxical Prime Minister. Follow him on Twitter @ShashiTharoor. Views are personal.

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