The Americans play this game in a diamond shaped field. It somewhat resembles
the game of Cricket, except instead of a wicket-keeper they have an umpire
behind the hitter or batter. (Friend points out the umpire stands behind a crouching catcher). They also have the rule “three strikes and you’re out”. The ‘Three Strikes’ rule is also used
by American states where a person convicted of three criminal offences is sentenced
for life. Simon Denyer is an
American journalist with the Washington Post but let’s not take those rules too
seriously when it comes to lampooning our Prime Minister. First, the two
strikes:
There, one by TIME as ‘The
Underachiever’ and two by The
Independent as ‘Poodle or Puppet’ (The Independent doesn’t seem to be sure
which one). And the third strike was delivered by Simon himself in an article
titled: “India’s ‘silent’ prime minister becomes a tragic figure”. For short, I’ll call it “Silent, Tragic
figure” (STF).
In a discussion over Simon’s article in the Washington Post calling
Manmohan Singh a STF on CNN-IBN on
September 5 Manish Tiwari had some
interesting statistics to offer. ManishT, the Congress spokesperson, mentioned
that “In the last one year, the PM has held 7 press conferences and has given
82 speeches and therefore to say that he is a silent PM is completely erroneous
and out of line”. That clarified the ‘S’ part but not the ‘TF’ part. Seven pressers and 82 speeches? Wow! I
guess I was measuring climate change in Greenland when all that happened. And
yes, Rajdeep Sardesai the “newsman”
didn’t ask ManishT “when and where”? As a ‘silent’ observer I can safely risk
stating that all those 82 speeches were ‘ceremonial’ speeches and do not amount
to ‘talking to the people’ which is what most articles about the STF are all
about. Speeches on I-Day, at the UN, at meetings of govt department heads or
CMs, speeches at party meets and most recently at the redundant NAM meet in
Teheran. ManishT probably also includes maybe a rare speech in parliament. Seven
press conferences? Must be the ones mid-air on board Air India One.
Oh yes, I do recall the PM talking to the media and people on the ground
too. I remember all those times when he said “I condemn this terrorist attack”,
“This is a dastardly attack by cowards”, “Terrorists had the advantage of surprise”,
“The guilty will be brought to justice” and many similar ones. The Simons of
this world don’t seem to realise that terrorists have the knack of making MMS
talk unlike foreign journalists.
Let’s go back in time a bit. On June 28, 2011 this is what the TOI reported: “Manmohan Singh
has so far held only three nationally televised press conferences in the last
seven years has been prime minister but has not been known to give interviews
to the Indian media. He last spoke to editors of some TV channels four months
ago”. Remember that one? That’s the one with TV editors where Harish Khare, then MMS’ media adviser,
told Arnab Goswami “It’s not an
inquisition”. So June end 2011 MMS decided on an “image makeover plan” and
swore “to interact with editors every week” and end this ‘silent’ tag. So he had a meeting with
a select group of five chosen editors on June 29, 2011.
Why in
an age of excess of communication tools would the PM of the largest democracy
on earth call five editors and have a secret press conference with them? And
then it was left to cronies like Kumar
Ketkar of Divya Marathi and Alok
Mehta of Nai Duniya to relay the discussions with MMS and interpret what
STF said. For a day both Kumar and Mehta were acting PMs themselves. I had then
called it “PM’s friendly fire”.
What was promised as a regular weekly meet with the press started and ended
with the one single farcical meet on June 29, 2011.
Before you could say “Simple Simon met a Prime-min” the PMO was
demanding apologies. Some tweeted he had apologised, then clarified he had not.
After thinking about it the whole night Pankaj
Pachauri, the current media adviser to PM, sent a written response to Simon.
Of all the laments, the classic Pachauri lament was “You told me sorry twice” on the phone. For what? Because the PMO
had told Simon no interviews till end of monsoon session of parliament and he
carried the article without PM’s version. That interview schedule could be
anytime between now and May 2014. You take your pick. Pachauri’s note is like
the one of an angry mother to a teacher about bad scores of her kid in the
exams.
Of course, our courageous Indian media stood right behind Simon in
condemning the demand of apology by the Congress, the govt and the PMO. Even Shoma Chaudhaury ridiculed the apology
demand. Every media celeb worth anything condemned the apology demand. Yeah, it
was ONE voice! Topping all the condemnations was Barkha Dutt. She was truly surprised that the govt went into a
tizzy over Simon’s piece. She even tweeted on September 5: “Odd thing is the Indian media is often
just as scathing in its critique of UPA but that doesn’t send the government
into a tizzy”.
I really can’t remember when the Indian media was ever nice or fair to
the UPA or MMS. They have been so consistently scathing in their criticism that
it’s right to believe that the govt is now tired and beyond complaining even.
You see, Simple Simon didn’t learn from the Indian media. The most scathing
attack doesn’t come through words. It comes through hugs and high-fives. That’s
how they rattle the living daylights out of the Congress and UPA. I’m
positive if Simon had gotten an interview with MMS he could have hugged him,
shook his hands, patted him gently on the back and politely told him with a
smile: “Sir, you’re a STF”. That wouldn’t be termed “unethical” as Pachauri and PMO have complained. No wonder Barkha’s
“scathing” criticism has never been termed unethical.
Nobody! Nobody in the world expects the most perfect prime minister.
Somewhere in the heart of MMS it must have started to bother him over the years
that he remains an “unelected” PM. A man who couldn’t win the only election he
ever contested cannot have the confidence to act or to talk like one who has.
MMS will likely go down as the head of the most corrupt govt India has ever
seen. Even worse, he has shown himself to be a man minus scruples in allowing
so many scams to happen under his very nose. What Simon Says wasn't really far from truth, but that doesn't matter. What another Indian politician said does matter a lot. Yashwant Sinha summed it up neatly when
he said MMS is “An over-rated economist
and an under-rated politician”. A guilty conscience often throttles speech.
A Man Minus Scruples (MMS?) is likely to hear the words “STF” a lot more often.
Given the heat over his article, Simple Simon may never get to meet the
prime-min.
