Patna, June 27: Like it or not, the use of unsavoury language gives a distinct colour to the election season in Bihar.

With barely months to go before Assembly polls, politicians are coining unusual and sharp words to attack their rivals. More and more leaders are coming forward to use bitter words either to be in the limelight or to show their rivals in bad light.

To what extent such words can help the parties and leaders at the hustings could be a matter of debate, but the war of words is slowly but surely gathering momentum.

Recently, the BJP MP from Buxar Ashwini Kumar Choubey described Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the mythical demon "Putana" (according to the Mahabharat, Putana, the mythological demon, had been sent by King Kans to kill the baby Lord Krishna) and her son, Rahul, as "a foreign parrot", while addressing a public meeting at Nawada. His remarks against Congress leaders fuelled vehement protests and he had to face the wrath of protesters. Choubey was placed under virtual house arrest for almost three hours. That was not the first time that such unsavoury comments were made. Earlier, Union minister Giriraj Singh had made a racist remark about Sonia in private that later leaked in public domain.

Giriraj had to apologise for the remarks in the Lok Sabha.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is considered a measured speaker, too jumped into the unusual campaign and recently termed his bête noire, Jitan Ram Manjhi, as Raavan's brother, "Vibhishan".

The BJP was quick to call Nitish "Ravana". Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav said if Manjhi was "Vibhishan", Nitish was "Raavan".

Asked about politicians resorting to such words to attack each other, senior politician and former chief minister Jagannath Mishra said such language should not be used in a democratic and parliamentary set-up.

"Such conduct and behaviour by politicians does not send a good message to the people, such language really kills the very essence of the parliamentary system. They better attack their respective rivals over some programme, issue or ideology. There should not be any personal attack in politics. Politicians are not setting good examples for the young generation or for the society," said Mishra.

The list of bitter words by politicians is long and it would keep increasing as the elections draw nearer. RJD chief Lalu Prasad, notorious for coining unusual words, cannot be forgotten. One day he calls BJP leaders "rats" and another day "chameleons".

Observers opine that politicians use such words to draw publicity and not by chance.

Two days ago, Pappu Yadav termed Lalu "Kans", who who was Lord Krishna's evil uncle who tried to get all his nephews killed, and Nitish "Duryodhan", who fought with his cousins, the Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapur in the Mahabharat. As if it were not enough, Pappu later called Nitish "Hitler" and Lalu "Tsar".

Former MP Shivanand Tiwari said: "War of words and unsavoury language are not new but the trend has become more pronounced of late. If politicians think that such language would make a difference among voters, they are wrong. Such words would not influence voting pattern as the voters have made up their mind whom to vote for and whom to reject. Those who use such language are out of words or have no brains."#