I am an Indian citizen and am proud to be an Indian.
As a citizen of India I am concerned about the welfare of the billions in our
country and often ponder over the plight of this nation which has plunged into
a quagmire of corruption, communal and ethnic violence erupting at certain vulnerable
spots in our nation, the ‘sons of the soil’ policy followed by a section of the
people, thus making the life of emigrant labourers, unbearable, a chain of
scams involving huge amounts costing the exchequer of the country, while
millions are running pillar to post with begging bowls to earn their livelihoods
and I often get indignant over the inefficiency or apathy of our rulers towards
the hardships of the suffering millions.
As I am proud to be born in a democratic country,
the largest democracy in the world, the Constitution of my country has blessed
me with certain rights and privileges as also duties. Freedom of speech, freedom
of expression, freedom to move from one part of the country to another part,
freedom to settle anywhere in the country are only a few among them.
Be that as it may, I haven’t so far heard or read
about any written or unwritten laws prevailing anywhere in this world, which
stipulates that a citizen in US or for that matter any country should not criticize
or praise a ruler of another nation, whenever he chooses to.
As the citizen of India, I won’t ever forfeit my
right to come down heavily on US President Barack Obama, Cuban President Raul
Castro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, to be precise any ruler of any nation
whenever he/she does something which affects badly either his/her country’s
citizens or citizens of other countries if and when I find their actions go
against some norms or principles. And as the citizen of India, I have got the
right to applaude and shower eulogies on these rulers if and when I find their
actions praise-worthy.
In addition to that though ManMohan Singh is our
Prime Minister no law prevents me from praising
or blaming him over some policies followed by him. I have got the entire
freedom and right to either praise him or criticize him, depending upon his
performance as the head of nation. Coming down heavily on Dr.Singh for his
action or inaction doesn’t in anyway diminish my respect towards him even when he
is not the Prime Minister of India. He is of my father’s age.
I am impelled to write this piece since US newspaper,
Washington Post’s India Bureau Chief Simon Denyer writing an article in his
paper about Dr.Singh’s failure on various fronts ranging from his failure on
the economic front, his inability to put an end to the large-scale corruption
prevailing across the nation, scams and scandals, his reluctance to communicate
over matters requiring his responses to many nagging problems affecting India,
have provoked the senior Congress leaders and demanded an apology from the
Newspaper. The Washington Post is not at all a US govt owned paper and in the
capacity of a mediaperson, hasn’t he got the right to write about the failures
on Dr.Singh’s part? There is no written or unwritten law stipulating that all
across the world should sing paens to him.
Even India’s Opposition leaders have not left any
opportunity to squarely blame him over some of his actions. L.K.Advani, the
Leader of Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) and NDA working Chairman since a long time
has gone to the extent of categorizing Dr.Singh as the weakest Prime Minister,
India has ever produced? Even an average citizen like me has not backtracked
from putting blame on him over certain policies followed by him which according
to me could cause harm to the people in the lower strata of the society. I don’t
think that I have done anything wrong by casting blame on him, since that in no
way lessen my respect towards him as he is our Prime Minister and leader of our
country. Ambika Soni, Minister of Information and Broadcasting has taken strong
exception to the article penned by Washington Post Bureau Chief and has gone to
extent of demanding an apology from the Washington Post? For what? The
accusation that the Correspondent should have consulted the PMO before writing
the article is baseless. The Correspondent himself has made it clear that his
request for an appointment with the PM was rejected. Indian rulers are actually
creating a mountain out of a mole-hill, put it mildly. There were occasions
when certain publications abroad wrote praising him for his reforms, there were
none in the ruling party speaking against those publications.
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