Topic Of The Day:-“Standing up to ‘big men’”
Consider Indira Gandhi, whose birth centenary it is on Sunday. She single-handedly wrote and enacted the script of populism in India, amidst a struggle for the control of the Congress party. Jawaharlal Nehru had steered the party to impressive victories in the first three elections to Parliament after Independence. This gave the government an edge over the party leadership. Nehru’s death in 1964 restored power to the ‘big men’ in the Congress. They were more than familiar with political strategies, and were adept at manoeuvring their way through the thickets of politics. They decided to put Indira Gandhi, who had acquired a fair deal of popularity, in her place. Her biographers tell us that she was unbearably patronised by the ‘Syndicate’ peopled by powerful Congressmen — Atulya Ghosh, K. Kamaraj, S.K. Patil, N. Sanjiva Reddy, S. Nijalingappa and Biju Patnaik. As a member of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet, Mrs. Gandhi was handed the inconsequential Information and Broadcasting Ministry, was heckled in Parliament and was disparagingly referred to as a ‘goongi gudiya’ (dumb doll) by Ram Manohar Lohia. Yet, when Shastri passed away the Congress, wracked by political rivalries, decided that Mrs. Gandhi should be the next Prime Minister. She was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of India on January 24, 1966. From the late 1960s to her assassination in 1984, the same woman who had been regularly belittled by her male colleagues dominated the party as well as the country. And these ‘big men’ who had assumed that they would control power in a government headed by a mere woman vanished into the mists of time.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Logjam
Meaning: A situation that seems irresolvable.
Example: “the president can use his power to break the logjam over this issue”
Synonyms: A backlog
2) Enhancing
Meaning: Intensify, increase, or further improve the quality, value, or extent of.
Example: “his refusal does nothing to enhance his reputation”
Synonyms: Increase, Intensify
Antonyms: Diminish, Mar
3) Fostering
Meaning: Encourage the development of (something, especially something desirable).
Example: “the teacher’s task is to foster learning”
Synonyms: Encourage, Promote
Antonyms: Neglect, Suppress
4) Conjunction
Meaning: The action or an instance of two or more events or things occurring at the same point in time or space.
Example: “a conjunction of favourable political and economic circumstances”
Synonyms: Concurrence, Coincidence
5) Therein
Meaning: In that place, document, or respect.
Example: “it shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein contained”
6) Temptations
Meaning: The desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise.
Example: “he resisted the temptation to call Celia at the office”
Synonyms: Desire, Impulse
7) Distinctive
Meaning: Characteristic of one person or thing, and so serving to distinguish it from others.
Example: “juniper berries give gin its distinctive flavour”
Synonyms: Typical, Individual
Antonyms: Common
8) Veritable
Meaning: Used for emphasis, often to qualify a metaphor.
Example: “the early 1970s witnessed a veritable price explosion”
9) Messiah
Meaning: A leader regarded as the saviour of a particular country, group, or cause.
Example: “the club’s supporters have been tempted to regard him as a messiah rather than a manager”
10) Disdaining
Meaning: Consider to be unworthy of one’s consideration.
Example: “he disdained his patients as an inferior rabble”
Synonyms: Scorn, Deride
Antonyms: Respect, Value
11) Inchoate
Meaning: Just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary; confused or incoherent.
Example: “a still inchoate democracy”
12) Steered
Meaning: Guide or control the movement of (a vehicle, vessel, or aircraft), for example by turning a wheel or operating a rudder.
Example: “he steered the boat slowly towards the busy quay”
Synonyms: Guide, Direct
13) Manoeuvring
Meaning: Move skillfully or carefully.
Example: “the lorry was unable to manoeuvre comfortably in the narrow street”
Synonyms: Guide, Navigate
14) Thickets
Meaning: A dense group of bushes or trees.
Example: “a horned owl perfectly camouflaged in a dense thicket”
Synonyms: Grove, Covert
15) Patronised
Meaning: Give financial or other support to (a person, organization, or cause).
Example: “she patronizes worthy causes”
Synonyms: Sponsor, Support
16) Heckled
Meaning: Interrupt (a public speaker) with derisive or aggressive comments or abuse.
Example: “he was booed and heckled when he tried to address the demonstrators”
Synonyms: Taunt, Disrupt
Antonyms: Cheer
17) Disparagingly
Meaning: Regard or represent as being of little worth.
Example: “he never missed an opportunity to disparage his competitors”
Synonyms: Belittle, Denigrate
Antonyms: Praise, Overrate
18) Wracked (past tense of rack)
Meaning: Cause extreme pain, anguish, or distress to.
Example: “he was racked with guilt”
Synonyms: Torment, Afflict
19) Belittled
Meaning: Dismiss (someone or something) as unimportant.
Example: “she belittled Amy’s riding skills whenever she could”
Synonyms: Disparage, Denigrate
Antonyms: Praise, Magnify
20) Mists of time
Meaning: Used to show that something happened a very long time ago and is difficult to remember clearly
Example: The precise details of what happened have been lost in the mists of time.
