Urdu is a subcontinental language of refinement, politeness, and sophisticated undertones. It has a quaint foundational mix of Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and unbeknownst to many, even Sanskrit influences that have evolved its own genteel sound and expressions.

The natural language of romance ensures a widespread resonance in Hindi movies and Urdu mushairas which dole out subtle but powerful insinuations of emotions. In its naturally sweet-sounding structure, even the most pejorative term acquires a poetic sound. One such word is ‘Auqaat’. Erstwhile Urdu speaking elitists and feudalists who reveled in classism contributed their own expressions of ‘putdowns’, and so ‘Auqaat’ was born.

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The literal translation of ‘Auqaat’ is time or circumstances, with metaphorical allusions to the pointed person’s resources, means, power and ability. But the practical and colloquial usage was to suggest the stature or social position of a person in terms of class, caste, success or even profession. Therefore, the popular (if inelegant and extremely entitled) refrain by the proverbial ‘haves’ at the decidedly lesser, ‘have nots’ in questioning, ‘teri auqaat kya hai’ (a literal ‘how dare you?’ by asking, ‘what is your status?’).

In the modern context of political correctness, evolved societal necessities and egalitarian preferences, asking someone about their ‘auqaat’ is considered boorish and uncouth, besides sounding classist. It has acquired an avoidably slanderous context and must be shunned in usage at others. A few years back, a famous actor had ostensibly committed suicide.

As is the wont these days, a media circus ensued with TV room charade of hyperbolic, unsubstantiated, and misogynistic accusations to suggest conspiracy theories. The actor’s female friend and fellow-actor found herself in the middle of the trial-bymedia and had to endure a month of pretrial confinement.

The sheer TRP and political value of the case was such that many prominent personalities fell over each other to join the melee and speculate the most venomous and shrilly aspersions, and there was simply no space for measure, restrain and dignity onto the person who had no choice but to suffer the indignities silently. It took the senior most police officer of a state, who ironically served under the institutional motto of ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (Truth alone Triumphs) to jump into the fray and attempt ingratiating himself even further with the powersthat-be.

He thunderingly announced that the female-actor “does not have the auqaat to comment on the Bihar chief minister”. The language was intimidating with unbridled power assertions at someone who was already down and out. As it turned out, there were good reasons for making such unwarranted comments, as the supposedly apolitical professional had forsaken that mandated restraint by invoking and questioning someone’s ‘auqaat’. His outburst didn’t stem from the merits of the case (which didn’t warrant his participation, beyond a point), but still demeaned, shamed, and degraded a person’s dignity. Later, he was to put in his papers prematurely and attempt seeking a ticket of the party to which the Chief Minister had belonged.

Recently, yet another set of already diminished citizens in the shape of truckers (about 90 lakhs in India) were protesting the passing of new laws that sought to make them even more vulnerable to its potential misuse. As it sadly happens, the truckers are a heterogenous and disorganised body of workers (few unions notwithstanding) who toil incredibly hard and are barely able to make a living for themselves and their families.

Given the already existing reality of harassment and corruption that they endure at the hands of various enforcement agencies, they were potentially saddled with even more punitive portents with the passing of this bill. More importantly, they claim that their concerns and sensitivities remained unconsulted and unincluded in the new laws. With sheer desperation they protested at the inequities of implication for themselves, as opposed to the protection afforded to those who actually put these truck drivers’s own safety at risk by insisting on faster deliveries.

Recently, the senior most Government official (oddly enough called ‘Public Servant’) in a district i.e., the Commissioner, was holding a meeting with truckers in his office as they discussed the issue. A video emerged of the enraged Commissioner raising his voice and pointing his finger imperiously at the already aggrieved truckers, “Kya Karoge Tum …Kya Auqaat Hai Tumhari” (What will you do? What is your social standing?).

To which the hapless truck driver is seen replying, “Yehi to ladai hai ki hamari koi auqaat nahi hai,” (This is exactly what we are fighting for, that we have no status in society)! The dreaded invocation of ‘auqaat’ to show an ostensibly lesser person his place, by a modern-day feudal lord played out. The so called ‘auqaat’ of the beleaguered trucker was sought to be shamed by someone calling himself a ‘public servant’.

Thankfully the government reacted swiftly and shunted out the concerned ‘public servant’ but the psychological and emotional damage by referencing to someone’s ‘auqaat’ will soon dim away from public memory. Empathy and an individual’s basic dignity are the first to be sacrificed whenever a question of someone’s ‘auqaat’ is posed. In a seminal speech, the father of the Indian ‘Civil’ Services i.e., Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, had told the first batch of probationers on 21 April 1947: “It will be your bounden duty to treat the common men in India as your own, or to put it correctly, to feel yourself to be one of them and amongst them, and you will have to learn not to despise or to disregard them.”.

The wise man had alluded to the changed times from the Raj Days and the need to evolve accordingly by doing certain things and refraining from others, by contrasting the past from the present/future. “The whole Service was known not to be Indian nor to be civil, nor imbued with any spirit of service, and yet it was known as the Indian Civil Service.

The thing is now going to change.” Sadly, seventy-six years post-independence, some babus still talk about the ‘auqaat’ of others and the official trappings of hubris, entitlement and superiority still thrive in the corridors of power.

(he writer is Lt Gen PVSM, AVSM (Retd), and former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry)