| Username |
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 28-Jun-02 04:05 AM
Interesting piece from the Asia Times Online:
India and the West: Cultural disconnect
By Sultan Shahin
NEW DELHI - Completely biased, baseless, ill-advised, ill-informed,
malicious, completely without foundation. These are some of the
expressions used by a horrified government of India to describe a
report in Time magazine that portrayed Indian Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, 77, as an aging, drunk, "half-dead" leader.
http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DF22Df05.html
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 28-Jun-02 04:40 AM
The original article by Alex Perry of TIME that prompted the reactions.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020617-260747,00.html
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 28-Jun-02 07:00 AM
I read the article probably the day it was out, and it was even feature in cnn world (in
Time.com article) news in cnn website. This was the first article so uncharitable to
Vajpayee. It said, among other, Mr Vajpayee to be 'half-dead'.
It was sure to me, from the beginning, that Mr Perry wasn't the member of Vajpayee
Fan Club.
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| typical indian mobocracy |
Posted
on 28-Jun-02 01:09 PM
the indian response to an article critical of their leader:
threaten to injure/murder the journalist (in fact, that's what you're doing when you post someone's address and insinuate it's going to be difficult for the critic to "live".)
how typical. they can dish it out, but they can't take it.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 28-Jun-02 06:47 PM
I liked this sentence:
I was outraged that a magazine of such awesome reputation could actually publish a catalogue of bazaar gossip, almost totally incorrect and unsubstantiated. I was outraged that not a single person was quoted to confirm even one damaging observation.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 28-Jun-02 06:49 PM
This is most important out of whole episode:
I was outraged that not a single person was quoted to confirm even one damaging observation.
---
Not a single person quoted. This is real bazzar gossip.
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 29-Jun-02 10:29 PM
Interesting that Advani was made the DPM today. Of course we would never know, because the Indians would never admit it, that this was partially influenced by a young British journalist for an American magazine's unflattering observations on Vajpayee, I think the BJP is just preparing for a smooth hand-over of power with no surprises come Vajpayee's retirement time. While it's no news that Advani and Vajpayee have been "equals" for the past 50 years, in the government Vajpayee was the moderate face who wouldn't budge without Advani's consent on anything. Apparently, the first question he would ask anyone from Yaswant Sinha to Jaswant Singh to any Ram, Michael and Mohammed who brought him new proposals was, "Advani-ji se poochha?" But formalising constitutionally what was always known is also quite important - in diplomacy, and for the Bombay financial markets, among others.
Talking of previously powerful Indian DPMs, obviously Ballavbhai Patel comes into mind. The iron grip he had on domestic affairs under Nehru, his rival, was legendary. Sirdar Patel is also said to have floated the idea of annexing Nepal to the Indian Union as part of his initiative to annex some other 500 princely Indian States after Independence. While the British Raj never really accorded us a status of a sovereign nation wholeheartedly (1923 treaty, important as it is, Chandra Shumsher's claim of credit for it is overshadowed by the tactical need on the part of the British to keep receiving a constant flow of loyal, brave, and under-paid teenage Gurkha recruits), one thing the Ranas do deserve kudos for is to tell the British flatly: sure, we are semi-colonized and can't do without your support, but we cannot be compared to the princely states that you govern in the low-lands. If they are to receive 17-gun salute in official functions, we should receive 19!! Of course, this differentiation was *most* crucial on matters of (pseudo) sovereignty. After Patel, our king Tribhuwan himself is *said to have* surrendered the kingdom to Nehru when on exile. On both counts, Nehru's good sense prevailed, who as a Cambridge trained biologist but an avid historian recognized the unique status of the kingdom of Nepal from time immemorial in both his beautifully written works, "Discovery of India" and "Glimpses of World History".
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 30-Jun-02 02:42 AM
Sorry, just on the last line above, I don't want to mislead readers that Nehru's "Glimpses of World History" also contains references to Nepal. I know for sure that "Discovery" does, which I was referring to when I talked about Nehru's recognition of Nepal's historical uniqueness. I haven't digested "Glimpses" as well as I have "Discovery", so perhaps others who have read "Glimpses" in better detail might want to jump in to confirm otherwise. Just wanted to write this much upon re-reading my posting above to escape potential charges of charlatanism. Thanks.
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