Political pygmies in their hot seats

Politics is a serious business. But it cannot, of necessity, remain so all the time. Anecdotes, innuendos, humour, sarcasm and even direct salvoes of words make its practice lighter and spicy. Only seasoned politicians of the highest calibre can use such arsenals from their stocks most appropriately and at the right time. At the hands of political pygmies though these weapons are most ill-suited and go off target, causing enough bad blood - a sure way to vitiate the entire political environment. Sometimes they are in bad tastes and expose not so much the meanness or the smallness of the opponents under attack as that of the attacker.
Political vituperation may not be an exclusive preserve of the Bangalees -either in the part forming Independent Bangladesh or in the part forming one of the states of India but no doubt they excel in perfecting the art. When the only Bangalee chief minister, a spinster, takes the war of words to the union finance minister addressing him irreverently as 'Chandu' and then gives vent to her anger throwing an open challenge, "Touch me if you dare, let's see how powerful you are", any self-respecting person feels ill at ease. The finance minister of India should have nothing personal against or in favour of the chief minister -married or unmarried. If, at all, his portfolio concerns any issue, it is the allocation of fund for Paschimbango. Did he discriminate against the state?
Does her outburst have anything to do with the future shape of Indian politics? Maybe, she reckons that the ruling Congress stands no chance of returning to power and she was at liberty of attacking a suave and respected minister like P Chidambaram. A gentleman, Chidambaram maintained his dignity and no reaction to this unexpected attack from him was available. The demeaning attack lowered her in the eyes of the public not the finance minister. On the home front though, the heat generated from mud-slinging can beat the record temperature in Dhaka for the past 54 years. There is no chance that a blow below the belt will go without an equal or more lethal response.
Gender parity at the top, in particular, may have something to do with this kind of violence in words. When one sarcastically gives a nickname for the inhabitants of an entire district and desires to drown them, it surely crosses all limits of political forbearance. That the so-called 'Gopalis' would react most caustically is quite expected. But at no point was there any reaction spearheaded by sharp wit and humour -a powerful weapon to counter such political primitiveness marked by pathological hatred.  
Sure enough, political stalwarts of the past eras parried such attacks with ease because they were well read and generous enough to cut jokes at their own expenses. Taking a cue from such remarks from their opponents, they admitted that they were exactly what their rivals have spoken of them. Only they gave a slight twist in the tail to show that the opponents were only greater villains on that count. Such intellectual exercises at their most consummate cannot be expected of political pygmies.