By all means, criticise people who deserved to be criticised and question the ones in power. It’s not only our right but also our duty as citizens of a democratic country. 

But, while doing so, let’s make sure that decency isn’t compromised.

This is in the context of Mansukh L. Mandaviya’s appointment as the new Health Minister of India, which has resulted in a lot of conversation, and one of the topics of discussion is his English.  

The tweets shared by the minister years ago are being re-shared, and people are pointing out grammatical errors/typos in them.

Which is unnecessary and mean. If there is anything one should dig up, it’s his past record as a politician, not his posts that are now being laughed at.

Good English does not make someone a good leader, and being bad at it, doesn’t make some bad at their job. Unless their job is directly related to the language.

And while we are discussing this, let me say that the argument that “I am punching above” does not work here. There are things you can’t say and do, even if the person in front of you is privileged as hell.

Because bullying doesn’t cease to be bullying if it’s done to someone in power.

If that is too difficult to understand, here is something that may help people stop the shaming. 

Tweets that you post reach a lot of people, in some cases thousands.

What if some people reading those tweets are struggling with a complex? What if they have been bullied for not knowing English? What if they are trying their best to learn the language?

I know people in all three categories, and I know things are not easy for them.

So, if we can quit being petty, that’d be great. Let’s discuss the health minister’s credentials, what made him deserve the post, we can leave him alone when it comes to matters such as grammar.