Modi Makes Fun of Dyslexic Children, Slammed by Disability Activists and Politicians

Remember when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had insisted on equating Persons With Disability with the divine —a problematic proposition, point out activists—by officially changing the Hindi term from ‘viklang’ to ‘divyang’ (divine body)? Never mind.

The PM seems to have inadvertently revealed the level of sensitivity he has towards children with disability as he cracked a joke targetting political opponent and Congress president Rahul Gandhi — at the expense of dyslexic children.

On the evening of March 2, the Prime Minister was interacting with thousands of college students via a video conference for the ‘Smart India Hackathon 2019’ organised by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee. The event was meant for students to come up with technology-driven solutions to social problems, especially related to women and children.

In a video clip circulated on Twitter, an engineering student from Dehradun begins telling Modi about an app that is likely to help children with dyslexia, a learning disability that causes reading and writing difficulties.

“We have an idea to help dyslexic children, whose pace of learning and writing is very slow. But they have a high intelligence and creativity level, for example, as we have seen in the movie, Taare Zameen Par…,” she says.

As the young woman sets about explaining what dyslexia is, Modi interrupts her and asks, “Will this program work for a child aged 40-50 years as well?”

The students look initially confused, then follow up with nervous laughter and applause — as they realise who the intended object of Modi’s dig is.

The student with the microphone replies, “Yes sir, it will work.”

As she resumes speaking again, she is cut off again by the PM, “Then that will make the mothers of such children very happy,” said Modi to yet another round of laughter and applause.

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The Prime Minister has drawn severe flak—from political opponents, disability rights activists, journalists, and others on Twitter—since the video began doing the rounds on social media.

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and member of its Politburo, tweeted, “Shameful and distressing. Some of us have dyslexic or disabled relatives, friends, children and parents. Sattar saal mein pehli baar, a person with this crassness occupies the chair of the PM. Enough, Mr Modi. Yeh hain sanskar aapke?”

Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah tweeted, “Just came across a video of our @narendramodi taking political potshots using the name of dyslexic people.

Shame on you Modi!! You just can't go below this. Your insensitivity can't be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you.”

Dr Sumaiya Shaikh‏, a neuroscientist, tweeted, “Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disorders that affects 3-7% people, (traits in upto 17-20%). It is genetic (heritable) that affects reading, writing & hence learning skills but not a marker for intelligence. Poor judgement by the PM to mock a neurological condition.”

Journalist Suhasini Haidar tweeted, “The standards of civility in public discourse are set by the nation's leadership as @pbmehta said recently. Disheartening to watch the nervous laugh of children made to think it acceptable to make a joke about a political adversary, at the expense of children with special needs.”

Disability Rights Activists to Take Action

Activists across the field of disability rights, too, have slammed the Prime Minister.

“This incident shows the regressive mindset of the Prime Minister and the party that he belongs to,” said Muralidharan Vishwanath, general secretary of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), speaking to NewsClick.

“It is clear that merely coining terms like ‘divyang’ and changing the name of the department, as Narendra Modi did, does not change your mentality.”

He said the NPRD has given a call for protests in several states, “wherever possible”, against the Prime Minister’s remark.

Moreover, Vishwanath said the NPRD has appealed to the people to lodge police complaints against the Prime Minister — because this constitutes an offence under Section 92 A the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

The section reads, “Whosoever – intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a person with disability in any place within public view… shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine.”

State affiliates of the NPRD are going to file police complaints under this section.

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The NPRD also issued a press statement on March 3 condemning the “disrespectful and insensitive remarks” made by the PM.

“Instead of answering a question posed by a student, the Prime Minister sought to take potshots at his political rivals,” said the NPRD statement.

The statement further said, “In an uncalled for and totally insensitive response, the Prime Minister tried to portray all dyslexic people in poor light. It is all the more unpardonable as it comes from a person holding such a high office.”

Speaking to NewsClick, Amba Salelkar of the Centre for Promotion of Social Justice, said the PM’s comments were a “disappointment”. She said it was unfortunate that “dyslexia was used as a slur” in this case—and “that the PM hijacked the cause (the student speaking of an app to help dyslexic kids) to take cheap shots at political rivals.”

She said, “There is already a lot of ableist discourse that goes around in our politics, especially during elections, the idea of disability as a curse, as something derogatory and stigmatising. For example, recently BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had said that Priyanka Gandhi suffers from bipolar disorder and beats up people, etc.”

The NPRD statement also pointed out that during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, Modi “had used terms like blind, deaf, lame etc. to belittle his rivals.”

However, the NPRD also stressed that Modi’s political rivals—including Rahul Gandhi—too “display the same tendency”.

For example, when the Congress president “had called the PM schizophrenic, in the not too distant past.”

“The PM should under no circumstances should be making such a remark… The least the PM can do is apologise for his remarks,” the NPRD statement said.

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