A Sikh does not greet another Sikh, both coming from educated families, both claiming to be the most cultured of the evolved human beings, both trying to straddle the religious domain while being in politics. Worse, both insist on calling each other a thief or a dacoit when they can't find a harsher expresssion. The political idiom ushered in and nurtured by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Akali Dal president Prakash Singh Badal is forever hitting new lows. Amarinder has done his bit by referring to younger Akali leaders as 'baloongras' (kittens) or other forms of progeny of animals. Sukhbir Singh Badal chose larger species  and refers now to Amarinder as a 'magarmachh' (a crocodile). Surely, the choice was not affected by Steve Irwin. Slanging matches between the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition on the floor of the Punjab Assembly have been stapple news. The simplest exchange of “Sat-Sri-Akal” has vanished. Punjab had never seen vulgar references to women folk of other leaders in public, but now we have suffered even that ignominy.

From calling each other an agent of the Congress or a sympathiser of the Khalistanis, both terms freely used as some kind of abuse by the parties on  different sides of the Akali-Congress fence, the idiom has progressed to a pure and simple triplyfiltered  busive tu-tu-mein-mein culture. In a recent public display of such a culture fast evolving in the Punjab polity, state Finance Minister Surinder Singla objected to Badal even referring to worsening conditions in agriculture and sorry state of affairs on the power front. The occasion was the launch of a Hindi newspaper edition near Jalandhar. So much so that Mr Singla even questioned the credentials of every single journalist in Punjab, and actually asked if there was a single honest journalist in the state. As for  the media houses, the genius Finance Minister cast a doubt whether any single media house was discharging its duties honestly.