I am sick and tired of people adding ‘sic’ to the end of their comments on X (Twitter). Do they even know what it means, or do they think it’s just the trendy way to close a tweet? Or maybe it’s their way of saying they, too, are ‘sick and tired.’
‘Sic’ is written after a word or phrase copied from a source to indicate that any errors or unusual phrasing are intentional and reflect the original text.
Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia recently criticised Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for claiming in an opinion piece that Britain’s East India Company choked India by ‘partnering with, bribing, and threatening our more pliant maharajas and nawabs.’
Rahul’s barb seems to target Jyotiraditya, son of the late Madhavrao Scindia and grandson of Jiwajirao Scindia, the last ruler of the princely state of Gwalior during the British Raj.
Jyotiraditya retorted, accusing Rahul of ignorance about Bharat’s heritage and a colonial mindset that ‘has crossed all limits.’
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh quickly responded, branding Jyotiraditya a ‘Congress turncoat’ who feels compelled to prove his loyalty to his new bosses in the BJP.
Former Youth Congress president BV Srinivas went further, saying: ‘His father [Madhavrao Scindia] had challenged Indira Gandhi’s decision to abolish princely privileges in the Supreme Court. [Jyotiraditya] now has to prove his loyalty to his bosses each day by defaming and denigrating those who built him up in the first place. It is worse than pathetic (sic).’
Here, ‘sic’ is used to indicate a quote with an error or awkward phrasing, as Srinivas’s remark appears emphatic yet unpolished.
So now, in this battle of royalty and legacy, we’re left to wonder: who’s truly staking a claim to Bharat’s heritage—the maharajas of yore, or the politicians who invoke them? And as the drama unfolds, ‘(sic)’ might keep dotting this rhetorical battlefield.