Washington:
The Prime Minister's Office has sent a strong rebuttal to American daily
the Washington Post, which has published what has become a controversial article about Dr Singh and the UPA. The article says the PM's image is one of a "dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government". The PMO has described the article as a "one-sided assessment" and described the conduct of
The Washington Post as "unethical".
(Read PMO's letter)The New Delhi-datelined article in the Post titled, "India's 'silent' prime minister becomes a tragic figure," credits Dr Singh with once being the major force behind the growing closeness between the US and says "President Obama's aides used to boast of his tremendous rapport and friendship with Singh. But, it says, "The image of the scrupulously honorable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one."
The article quotes critics to say that the PM - who it describes as "a shy, soft-spoken 79-year-old" - is in danger of going down in history as a "failure". "He has become a tragic figure in our history," the Post quotes historian Ramachandra Guha, also the author of "India after Gandhi", as saying. Mr Guha is quoted as describing Dr Singh in a Indian magazine as "fatally handicapped by his timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty".
(Read original Washington Post article here)Taking strong exception, the PMO's letter, signed by Pankaj Pachauri, communications adviser at the Prime Minister's Office, accuses the Post of "unethical and unprofessional conduct" though it refuses to go into "your one-sided assessment of the Prime Minister's performance, as comment is free in journalism."
The PMO has said that the daily did not get in touch with it for their side of the story; it accuses the paper of telling Indian media that its request for an interview was denied when, in fact, the letter says, it was only declined till the end of the monsoon session, which ends on Friday; it says the newspapers website would not allow a comment to be posted of the article. It also claims that the Post reporter apologised on phone.
The letter, which the newspaper has posted on its website and is addressed to the Post's India bureau chief and author of the story Simon Denyer, says, "Despite all lines of conversations open, you never got in touch with us for our side of the story though you regularly talk to me about information from the PMO. This story thus becomes totally one sided."
Mr Pachauri has pointed out to Mr Denyer, that on phone "you said sorry twice though you tell the media here that you never apologised." The letter also says that "the former media adviser to the PM Dr Sanjaya Baru has complained that you 'rehashed and used' an 8 month old quote from an Indian magazine."
Simon Denyer has denied that he apologised to the Prime Minister's Office for the story and also denied that he failed to take the PM's version. The reporter tweeted yesterday that he had asked for an interview and his request was declined. He tweeted that he had apologised only for the newspaper's website not functioning properly. He also tweeted that "no threats were issued from their (PMO) side, no apology offered from mine".
In a point-by-point rejoinder that the Washinton Post has also published along with the PMO's letter, Mr Denyer has said, "I stand by the story." He has also said, "My apology was for the fact that the website was down and the PM's office could not post a reply directly. As soon as the problem was fixed, I informed them."
(Read: Author Simon Denyer's reply to PMO's letter)
The Post has also added to its story, a correction to say that it quoted two people, Dr Sanjaya Baru and Ramachandra Guha, from their statements made to Indian magazine Caravan last year, but failed to credit the magazine. It has since updated the article to include this.
According the Press Trust of India, Tushar Poddar, India Economist of Goldman Sachs, has also distanced himself from the comments attributed to him in the article.
"I was dismayed to read ...comments attributed to me about India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. These published remarks bear little or no resemblance to my recollection of a conversation I had with your correspondent several months ago," Mr Poddar said in an e-mail.
Last month, Prime Minister Singh, who has long been lauded for his pivotal role in liberalising the Indian economy, was dubbed as an "underachiever" by Time magazine in its Asia edition. In an article titled 'A Man in Shadow', the magazine said he appears "unwilling to stick his neck out" on reforms that will put the country back on growth path. The Opposition BJP had latched on to that story too, saying that Time had reiterated what it had been saying all along. The Congress had to put its best ministers and spokespersons up to defend the PM at that time.
The Prime Minister has for some time now been facing severe criticism for allowing the economy to slide by not taking politically tough reform decisions. Many allegations of corruption and scams in the government have not helped his cause either. The latest is the coal allocation issue; the national auditor or CAG has alleged that private firms were shown undue favours, allowing them windfall gains of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore. Two Congress MPs, one of them a minister in the Union cabinet, are already facing public and political indictment and one of them has been booked by the CBI.
The BJP has not allowed Parliament to function at all in the current Monsoon Session, demanding the PM's resignation, since he was the coal minister at the time the national auditor alleges the scam happened.