The Election Commission of India has read out the political correctness act to politicians on their utterances that could be considered “ableist”.
Common usages to criticise an opponent — calling them blind, retarded or dumb — have come under the EC’s glare, months after Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury called the PM “mad”.
The EC’s guidelines said: “Of late, the Commission has been made aware of use of derogatory or offensive language in the political discourse about Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Usage of such semantics in speech/ campaign by members of any political parties or their candidates, can be interpreted as an affront to the PwDs. Common examples of ableist language are words like dumb (gunga), retarded (pagal, sirphira), blind (andha, kana), deaf (behra), lame (langda, lula, apahij) etc. It is necessary to avoid usage of such derogatory language.”
The guidelines include avoiding insulting references, the use of disability in the context of human incapacity, and references by politicians that perpetuate stereotypes and prejudices.
