New Delhi: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is all set to arrive in New Delhi as chief guest for India’s 70th Republic Day. But several critics have alleged that the Narendra Modi government decided to invite Bolsonaro — nicknamed “Trump of the Tropics” — because US President Donald Trump had refused an invitation extended to him by India last year.
Bolsonaro’s anti-establishment populist style and social media presence has often been compared to that of Trump. Critics of the Brazilian president have pointed at how both leaders had campaigned as nationalists and focused on a deteriorating law and order situation in their respective countries.
Much like Trump, Bolsonaro also uses Twitter to make unusual and unprecedented statements. Both men have also been accused of nepotism owing to the appointment of close family members in their administrations.
The Brazilian president also has had a long history of making controversial statements. In only the last few months he has publicly insulted French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, referred to judges of the Brazilian Supreme Court as “hyenas”, called the country’s top news broadcaster “scumbags” and dismissed the raging Amazon fires as a part of the “Marxist plot”.
ThePrint takes a look at the controversial life of India’s Republic Day chief guest, Jair Bolsonaro.
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An ‘unusual’ politician
A former military officer, Bolsonaro came into the limelight for the first time in 1983 when he wrote an article for the Brazilian magazine Veja where he complained about lower salaries for military personnel. Although this article landed him with 15 days of imprisonment, it also helped kick-start his political career.
The Brazilian leader was first elected a legislator in 1991, but all his hopes of becoming a recognised national political figure remained elusive until 2017. So much so that when he had contested for the position of speaker at Brazil’s lower house, he managed to secure only four votes.
While Bolsonaro really rose as a political force in 2018 when he decided to contest the presidential elections as an anti-establishment candidate, all his years in political wilderness didn’t go to waste.
Since the late-1980s, Brazilian politics was dominated by Left-leaning parties and there had been a general lack of Right-wing alternatives. In such a setting, Bolsonaro managed to develop the reputation of a conservative politician in a broadly left-of-centre political system.
‘Genuine change can only come through a civil war’
A major part of Bolsonaro’s image as the poster-boy for Brazilian conservatism was driven by his statements, that were mostly politically-incorrect and often deemed “outrageous”.
In 1999, critiquing former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Bolsonaro had said that voting in the elections won’t change the country. Genuine change can only come through a civil war that will kill 30,000, including “FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso)”, he had said.
He had also expressed his liking for Brazil’s military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964-85. Talking about the military regime, he had once said its only flaw was that the system tortured people instead of killing them.
Bolsonaro had also expressed a liking for assault and jails. In a statement made in 1999, he had said: “I am in favour of torture, you know that. And the people are in favour as well.”
Again in 2014, the leader had said: “Brazilian prisons are wonderful places…they are places for people to pay for their sins, not live the life of Reilly in a spa.”
But some of the most controversial statements made by the Brazilian leader are on the country’s social issues. In 2003, he faced a major backlash when he told a fellow woman legislator that he won’t rape her because she “doesn’t deserve it”.
When talking about homosexuality once, Bolsonaro had said that he would not be able to love a gay son, and he would rather have him “die in an accident”.
But Bolsonaro’s statements have not been limited to just public affairs. During a 2018 interview, he had revealed that he used to spend his housing allowance as a congressman — when he was still unmarried — to “have sex with people”.
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President Bolsonaro is still politically incorrect
Much like Trump, there were expectations that after assuming office, Bolsonaro would become more “presidential” and adopt more moderate rhetoric. But the Brazilian president has done no such thing.
Since assuming office in January 2019, Bolsonaro has courted controversy with his statements and actions. Soon after becoming the president, he had posted some sexually-explicit pictures on social media. Later, he also posted a video on Facebook where he claimed that certain “malevolent forces” were trying to assassinate him.
Although the most controversial episode of Bolsonaro’s presidency came in the wake of the raging Amazon fires.
His government had faced international backlash for enacting policies that not only exacerbated the environmental crisis but also made managing it much harder. Amid such rising global criticism, Bolsonaro had turned down the offer of help extended by the G7 countries and blamed them for their “colonial mindset”.
The hostile rhetoric coming out of Brazil didn’t stop here. Bolsonaro entered into a public row with French president Macron. When Macron criticised the Bolsonaro government’s inaction during the Amazon fires, the Brazilian president said that France should stay out of Brazil’s domestic issues.
Bolsonaro’s aides also took on Macron — Brazil’s Tourism Ambassador Renzo Gracie reportedly threatened to “choke Macron”.
Again, when one of Bolsonaro’s supporters posted a picture on Facebook contrasting the appearance of Macron’s 66-year-old wife with the 37-year-old first lady of Brazil, the president posted a comment saying, “Do not humiliate (him)…man, ha ha.”
The French president had reacted by calling his contemporary’s comments “extraordinarily rude” and “disrespectful”.
Several major European powers had later also made an unanimous threat to wield economic punishment on Brazil, in case Bolsonaro didn’t fall in line.
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