Vocab Refresher

Indian politics changes with the changes at the Centre of Indian political universe: New Delhi.

With the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) out and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in, one must get familiar with the new Indian political vocabulary.

Here is a list of new nouns, verbs and adjectives that are in currency now.

Daagi, The Tainted: Adj. Someone facing criminal charges.

CMP: Commonly known as common minimum programme, with an emphasis on the word minimum. A very common programme that promises to do minimum.

Left: Used to mean left, now means right. What left says is right.

Bite: What Left does if it’s wronged.

Lalu: Earlier spelt as Laloo. Cheeky antic hero with touches of Bollywood heroines. A Sadhna-cut hairstyle and Hema Malini cheeks. Friend of Mahesh Bhatt and enemy of

PC: Not Personal Computer but P. Chidambaram, the new finance minister.
Sonia: No longer followed by the phrase Yet So Far.

MS: Man-in-blue-turban-Mohan Singh. Not to be confused with the blue-chip Microsoft.

S. Jaipal Reddy: Yes, Jaipal not Ready to allow foreign newspapers to be printed in India. Foreign newspapers can still be sold and read and flaunted.

Amar Singh: Party-pauper, earlier known as party pooper. Mostly seen in Mumbai now.

FDI: Earlier known as Foreign Direct Investment before it acquired a negative connotation. Now interpreted as Foreign Direct Interference.