The seven-year itch takes over Sujata Anandan

But one thing that really struck me about Modi's loss of dignity last week was Trinamool Congress MP Mohua Moitra's labelling of him as a “rocker chele." These are roadside Romeos catcalling every passing female of the species and I was stunned that Modi should have thrown himself open to such labelling. Moitra was mad at Modi’s caterwauling, ‘Diddi-o-Diddi' which, I must admit, was not a very nice thing to do. Admittedly, he must have been mad at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for writing to all other political parties to unite against the BJP – which would most certainly defeat the party at the next elections. But whoever in the West Bengal BJP advised him it was okay to cat-call a woman, let alone a chief minister, in those terms? Considering the state has BJP leaders who ask Mamata to wear Bermudas to show her legs off, I am not surprised Modi was so culturally misled in this land of the Bhadralok as to be forced into acting like a rocker chele and inviting the worst bit of criticism so far with regard to his comments on women. I agree with Moitra that this kind of cat-calling has to be worse than his earlier comments like Jersey Cow, 50 crore girlfriend or Congress ki vidhwa. Those were comments against Congress leaders or their wives, so those leaders either ignored the comments or chose not to respond. But the Trinamool Congress fights as dirty as any other party and it was to be expected that they would respond sooner rather than later and I am saddened that the prime minister of my country should have been made to throw himself open to such commentary.

Even Kerala has been poking fun at Modi for claiming his party will win the elections after he labelled the state as Somalia a while ago. Modi should have listened to his sole MLA in the current Assembly – literacy is universal in Kerala, so people read and are discerning, he said. Thus they make up their minds without the help of What’s App and other propaganda tools. But I would really not fault Modi for claiming Kerala – that is what any political leader must do, after all. However, the fact that Keralites can read will also keep them aware of the fact that the Modi government did not aid them during their floods, demanded central government funds back, unleashed central agencies against their leaders and generally caused a lot of bad blood between them.

But all said and done, whatever our internal differences, I do not like the thought of other nations piling fun at India on account of the antics of its prime minister. And that they are doing in ample measure, given the era of social media and lightning communication, several media outlets all across the world are reporting all that goes on in India, including the funny bits about its prime minister. I wish Modi would seek better advice and refrain from such antics. Or else he will surely get the first he has been craving for so long – the first Indian prime minister to go down in history as a caterwauling tease, waving to empty grounds at an election he should have left to others more culturally suited to campaign for.