Dissent is all very well, said a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader the other day, but tone is all-important. If one can understand that correctly, then it is okay to criticise the current dispensation and the Prime Minister, but you must do it in a respectful manner. To use Venkaiah Naidu’s own language, is it fair to assume that it’s polite to call someone a “maha-paapi” or a big sinner, as he has done with the Congress? Or can one emulate other members of the BJP and its supporters who called the former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh “Maunmohan Singh” when he was in office, with reference to the fact that he did not talk much and come up with similar sobriquets for the current incumbent?

CM Devendra Fadnavis inspects damaged sugarcane crop at Malikpeth in Mohol Taluka of Solapur. The fact that the people of India are themselves suffering because of this imperfect monsoon season appears to be incidental. The government is suffering. That ought to be enough reason for the faithful to be upset. File pic for representation