Word-meister Khurshid

Law minister Salman Khurshid is well known for his use of the English language. Responding to embittered ally, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s recent attack on the UPA as a government running on ‘money, muscle and mafia’ power, Khurshid said, “Good alliteration but not very reasonable politics.” He then added, “She has been a very good friend and partner, but she has her compulsions and the language she has to speak is the language that should have an appeal to her constituency.” Khurshid, an alumnus of St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, pursued English literature in college and then law at Oxford, which would explain his eloquence. However, at times, his way with words has landed him in a bit of a spot. For instance, he had said Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had shown only ‘cameos of his thought and ideas’. Khurshid’s self defence of having merely used a ‘literary allusion’ went unnoticed.