Thiruvananthapuram, April 7 Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday that abusive language should not be part of political discourse, and everyone should treat each other with respect, despite disagreements over principles and policies.
Tharoor was responding to questions from reporters at a press conference here regarding Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's recent remark calling Gujaratis "illiterate".
He said that he had previously expressed concern about the "decline in the quality of political discourse".
"We have even seen cases filed against the Chief Minister of Assam for hate speech. This should not be the direction of our politics. We should, I believe, treat each other with respect.
"We may strongly disagree on principles and on issues and policies. But abusive language should not be part of our politics. I must say, our standards should not be lowered to that of those who use bad language in politics," Tharoor said.
He also said that he hopes political leaders will respect the public by giving them good reasons to vote in their favor and against others, "rather than using language that frankly coarsens public debate".
"I say this particularly, having seen the cases of hate speech against some individuals," he said.
When he was told about the alleged objectionable remarks made by the Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC) president C P Mathew regarding a female party worker during an election campaign, Tharoor said that in a large party with an intense and passionate election campaign, "people can sometimes say more than what is wise".
"But, this is not endorsed by all," he added.
"Every individual view expressed by every Congressman cannot be hung on the party. If what is said, what is reported, is accurate, I don't think that anyone of us would endorse such a tactic or such an approach," he said.
Mathew, during a poll campaign speech, purportedly referred to a past protest and claimed that a former female vice president of a village panchayat had been instructed by him to tear her own blouse as part of the agitation to implicate political rivals.
Tharoor said that Congress is a party with a long track record, and therefore, not to judge it by one sentence out of context that somebody may or may not have said.
"Judge us by the kind of government we have given in the past and that we'll give in the future," he said.
Regarding the recent rejection of the opposition's impeachment notice against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Tharoor said that party lawyers would be looking into the matter.
He said that in his view, the Election Commission (EC) needs to do some serious introspection of its own behaviour and conduct.
"We as voters have always had a lot of respect for the Election Commission as an impartial body that has a certain place in our country's constitutional system and which has helped run elections for a long time.
"We would like very much to be able to continue to respect the Election Commission. Therefore, its conduct must be above reproach," he said.
On the issue of the Parliament holding a session from April 16 to 18 on the bill related to 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, Tharoor said he was not aware of what the central government was proposing, but the Congress was in favour of women's reservation.
"We were the first party to initiate it. Sonia Gandhi as chairperson, the UPA had advocated it, ... Subsequently, the BJP came and unanimously passed the bill," he said.
He said that the BJP now apparently wants to change the procedure that they had proposed and passed by way of the constitutional amendment.
"All I can say is, we will as a party need to study what exactly is the mechanism they proposed, how do they wish to fast track women's reservation, and what are the implications constitutionally and for the sitting Parliament, as well as for larger issues of states' rights, federalism and so on," the Congress MP said.