'Lungiwala' Remark Sparks Privilege Row in RS
CPI(M)'s John Brittas moves a privilege motion against BJP's Sushmita Dev over an alleged slur, as opposition parties unite to call it an insult to South Indian identity
Synopsis
The word "lungiwala," which was seen to have triggered a frenzy in the Rajya Sabha, is a derogatory term that CPI(M) MP John Brittas uses to refer to the traditional attire of the people from his home state, South Indian. As the House nears the end of the Monsoon Session, a formal privilege motion has been moved by Brittas, MPs have followed him to support the motion and the House Chairman has appealed to them to exercise restraint.
AdvertisementAn Interrupted That Exploded
The comment about CPI(M) Member of the Parliament (MP) John Brittas's name, which was attributed to the former RPG member as "lungiwala," sparked a stormy argument in the Upper House on Wednesday, August 12, when the issue was raised by the MP as a matter of dignity and prestige of the House.
Raising the matter in accordance with the matters which the Chair allowed, Brittas said that he did so with a "heavy heart" and referred to it as a matter "touching the honour of the House".
AdvertisementBrittas told reporters, "I have introduced a privilege motion notice against Sushmita Dev for her derogatory statement 'lugni wala' which is stereotyping the south Indians and unacceptable and is equivalent to othering.
Brittas's complaint states that during his intervention, Dev walked away from his seat and stood closer to her and that she repeatedly heckled him while he was talking to her and termed him with the word during his talk.
Brittas has said that the phrase wasn't offhand or accidental, but a clear and on-going personal reference to a derogatory stereotype of South Indians.
Cross-Party Solidarity
The House action on reaction was quick to cross party lines. P. Sandosh Kumar (CPI(M) member) said that it is a "very serious issue" because the person using the lungi is a "part of the culture of South India... Kerala, Tamil culture, Karnataka culture, Odisha culture, Andhra culture and Telangana culture.
AdvertisementChowdry Mohammad Ramzan, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference MP, went a step further and called it "a cultural attack" and "an insult to any culture" in India to the BJP MP's comment.
The Governor's Response and the Chair's Line
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju while addressing the House said he had not heard the remark Brittas was referring to and also said that "every honourable member is equal" and requested the Chairman to intervene if it happened "something objectionable would have taken place.
Another member pointed out that the Rajya Sabha had been averse to disparaging each member's culture in the past and Rajya Sabha Chairman Radhakrishnan said that he would "call the member to my chamber and sort it out. In his written order, the Chairman said he had received some "discourteous and undignified" remarks that were interrupting other members while speaking and advised members to be careful not to offend colleagues' sentiments.
Brittas has formally asked the Chairman to put this case before the Committee of Privileges for investigation for the purpose of taking disciplinary action against the region in future to prevent stereotyping.
BJP MP Sushmita Dev has been subjected to a privilege motion by CPI-M MP John Brittas for the 'lungi wala' comment and a privilege motion from the Opposition to extend its support to the BJP.
What this Episode Resonates?
Language, regional and identity issues load the political instrument of the federal Parliament of India with symbolic significance, a factor that is particularly burdensome for MPs from linguistically diverse states who are already subject to longstanding anxieties over the political language and discourse of the North.
Privilege motions are not usually acted upon quickly – they are usually referred by the Chairman to the Committee of Privileges and may take months to reach its final decision stage – but their political significance, if any, may lie more in the speed with which they are acted upon, that is, whether they are acted upon at all, rather than in the stage they reach on the Committee of Privileges.
What Comes Ahead
The Committee of Privileges is expected to take up the issue only before the conclusion of the Monsoon Session on 13.8, as it's unlikely to do so before the end of the session. The episode is part of a larger trend for this legislative session, as substantive issues wait for a floor vote with identity-related flashpoints growing more common, respectively.
