Shouldn’t use intemperate language!
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the USA and he met President George Bush at the White House. For some reasons, the Indian Prime Minister, who is otherwise always very careful about his language lost control or otherwise and blushed before the American President. In a spontaneous outburst he said to the President: “Mr.President, the Indian people love you!”. This caused much embarrassment back at home, if not much laughter and mirth!
Yes, to tell a high dignitary by another high dignitary like this is a bit unexpected and didn’t go down well with the diplomatic niceties and also for the right protocol governments adopt in such formal occasions.
May be the Prime Minister might have just said: “The Indian people have great friendship towards the great American people. So, too our people have high regards for you Mr.President”. Such a language would have been more apt.
Now, when it came to the Leader of the Opposition back at home, namely, Mr.L.K.Advani, it is very unfortunate Mr.Advani, speaking at Guwahati, commented of the Prime Minister’s performance abroad, even while the PM was on the foreign soil, when he was meeting the heads of state, Advaniji, choose to use ,in our opinion, very inelegant language. He said: “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the “most incompetent” Prime Minister and he has devalued his office! Then, he went on to say that India has had 14 prime ministers, yet he is the most incompetent one”. Of course, he went on to explain his position. Advani says that” no decision is taken without the consent from 10,Janpath(Sonia Gandhi) and then he went on and on, saying how in his reign the rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer etc”.
Now, a Leader of Opposition is expected to critisise the government of the day and he is also free to a large extent to be as devastating as he wants. But then, the Leader of the Opposition enjoys a Constitutional position, he is treated with a Cabinet rank and that means the concerned person acquires a larger than life stature in the eyes of the public.
And given Mr.Advani’s age and stature, he is past 80 and has the potential to become the Prime Minister and in fact, his party has declared him as the Prime Ministerial candidate. This is a big honour and with honour goes responsibility.
It is our view that with the right choice of words Mr.Advani could have been even more devastating, if that is what he wanted. There is what is called some decorum to public debate and discourse in an area like high politics and certainly, the Indian democracy is looked upon by the entire world as a remarkable achievement. And India is respected and enjoys lot of credibility in the capitals of the world.
Bill Emmott, former editor of The Economist, who has written a book on India, China and Japan and has lots of research and insights says that India has not as much GDP, as China and also other achievements, and yet India would be respected more than China by what he calls its “soft power”, that is, India’s democracy, multi-party system, free press and all this means, international power, influences around the world, interdependence with other countries, cultural power, hard power and military power and India’s credibility, legitimacy and the trust India evokes in other countries, and India’s moral and foreign standing, the Gandhi-Nehru legacy and our very type of freedom struggle that was an inspiration for the whole of the Third World.
What the Brits don’t say so openly about India of today, as the Brits have their own prejudices and their darker side, the Indians of today must also realise, and what we say must be heard and read with care and some seriousness by our politicians and our MPs and MLAs and others is the emerging realities about India and China. India is now a software superpower and Indian democratic credentials are recognised by the American democratic processes, in the conduct of elections, declaration of election results, the appointment of judges(as we have seen in the USA) and also the fact that the USA now seeks India’s strategic partnership, because as the American Ambassador to India said, the “Americans want to be on the right side of history!”
This is a great compliment and recognition.
China, in spite of its so many incredible achievements, is still an odd man out! Japanese is also much closed society.
While Indians an open society.
We specially request Mr.L.K.Advani, to ponder over his future course whenever he wants to criticise. Please do feel free to criticise. But let us all adopt some highly sophisticated language and that would raise our own stature!