Washington Post criticism: Would PM’s silence have been his saving grace? -Governance Now

Washington Post criticism: Would PM’s silence have been his saving grace?

GN Bureau | September 6, 2012

When the entire opposition tore into PM Manmohan Singh’s claims of innocence in coal block allocations, all he had to say was:

Hazaaron Jawabon Se Acchi Hai Meri Khamoshi, Na Jaane Kitne Sawaalon Ki Aabru Rakhe.

However, the PMO was prompt in shooting off an angry letter to the US newspaper after it carried a front page article titled “India’s ‘silent’ prime minister becomes a tragic figure” (the article can be read here).

The PMO’s letter claimed that the story was one-sided. Simon Denyer, author of the article and WP’s India bureau chief, replied to the letter point by point, refuting all the charges and standing by his story. The PMO’s letter and Denyer’s response can be read here.

This is not the first time PM has been criticised in world media. It is just another in a series. The offence taken by the PMO is both pointless and immature.

Do you think the PM’s silence would have been his saving grace?

Comments

Other News

‘The Civil Servant and Super Cop: Modesty, Security and the State in Punjab’

Punjabi Centuries: Tracing Histories of Punjab Edited by Anshu Malhotra Orient BlackSwan, 404 pages, Rs. 2,150

What really happened in ‘The Scam That Shook a Nation’?

The Scam That Shook a Nation By Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai HarperCollins, 276 pages, Rs 399 The 1970s were a

Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure released

The final ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’ by ‘India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development’ was released in New Delhi on Monday. The Task Force was led by the

How the Great War of Mahabharata was actually a world war

Mahabharata: A World War By Gaurang Damani Sanganak Prakashan, 317 pages, Rs 300 Gaurang Damani, a Mumbai-based el

Budget expectations, from job creation to tax reforms…

With the return of the NDA to power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are now on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s full budget for the FY 2024-25. The interim budget presented in February was a typical vote-on-accounts, allowing the outgoing government to manage expenses in

How to transform rural landscapes, design 5G intelligent villages

Futuristic technologies such as 5G are already here. While urban users are reaping their benefits, these technologies also have a potential to transform rural areas. How to unleash that potential is the question. That was the focus of a workshop – “Transforming Rural Landscape: