Mere storm in a teacup 
I have often wondered whether there is a clique at work in the PMO which is trying to discredit
Dr Singh on purpose
"We must reckon that at least 25 % of the population of Bangladesh swears by the Jamaat-e-Islami and they are very anti-Indian and they are in the clutches… of the ISI." These words by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh are part of the record of his informal talks with five editors that his office released a few days ago. Why a seasoned politician person like him should be so indiscreet is beyond me and why the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has included these remarks in the official transcript uploaded on to the Prime Minister's website leaves me confounded.
One, Jamaat-e-Islami does not command the following of even one quarter of the Bangladeshi population. In the last general election, the party was routed. Two, how did the Prime Minister arrive at the conclusion that all members of the Jamaat-e-Islami harboured anti-India views? They are fundamentalists, no doubt, but every fundamentalist is not anti-India. The Jamaat has justifiably protested against the remark.
I have always held that the chiefs of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) who brief every Prime Minister daily are seldom accurate in their assessment. I cannot imagine that Dr Singh would have spoken about the Jamaat the way he did without their inputs. Their sources are dubious. I have had an unhappy experience with RAW and IB when I was India's High Commissioner to England.
The blame comes to the PMO which released the recorded talks without listening to them beforehand or reading the transcript first. The office is supposed to edit out words of the Prime Minister that he may have spoken on the spur of the moment. He could not have meant what he said about Bangladeshis the way it is being taken in Bangladesh. This is the reason why he rang up Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina so promptly and that's why the ministry of external affairs has offered the Bangladesh government an apology.
In fact, the five editors who talked to him for an hour a few days ago have been more discreet while sharing with the media their discussions with the PM. Even their writings pertaining to the meeting with the PM didn't contain anything controversial. They were sensitive to what their words might convey because no official briefing had been done. Probably, they were conscious to avoid any criticism of the Prime Minister. By the time the PMO realised its mistake, it was too late. After uploading the transcript of the talks on to the website, which remained Online for 30 hours, it withdrew the portion referring to Bangladeshis. But the damage was done because Bangladeshi media had gone to town on the Prime Minister's remark.
The Prime Minister, tense as he is these days, is obviously under pressure. He is fighting against the Opposition, the dissidents in his own party and carping coalition partners, some of whom are flirting with the Opposition. His gaffe should not indicate that he is helplessly dependent on a few in his office. His problem is that he does not pursue his own instincts as the 2G spectrum scam has shown. There is a welcome report about possible wholesale transfers in the PMO. In fact, the PMO does need to be pruned. Indira Gandhi expanded it unnecessarily because of the type of government she ran.
Naturally, the diplomatic circles are shocked because they do not expect such remarks from Prime Dr Singh who is a mature politician and an international figure. India has a standing in the world and every word it's government utters and every action it seeks is taken seriously, particularly by neighbouring countries.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is doing everything in her power to strengthen ties with India. Dr Singh has himself acknowledged that the "Bangladesh government has gone out of its way to help us in apprehending anti-Indian insurgent groups which were operating from Bangladesh for a long time". Sheikh Hasina has given the much-needed transit facilities to India so that North-eastern states could be reached faster than it used to be because vehicles carrying goods to the states had to make a lot of detour earlier in order to circumvent Bangladesh. She has also taken a number of steps to improve economic relations between the two countries. Indeed, the Prime Minister's remark must have come as a shock to her.
Yet, Dhaka was very mature in its response. It summoned India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dhaka to know about New Delhi's version of the goof-up. He reportedly assured it that India's relations ran far deeper than to be affected by a remark here or an indiscretion there. Nonetheless, Dr Singh's words have come in handy for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and other Opposition elements which were only waiting for an excuse to take to the streets. They want to put a spanner in Sheikh Hasina's efforts to straighten things internally and with foreign countries, including India. Not everything that she does may be right but that is her domestic problem, not ours.
I have often wondered whether there is a clique at work in the PMO which is trying to discredit Dr Singh on purpose. Even the manner in which five editors were called for an informal talk with the PM was ill-conceived and ill-executed. It was a subjective selection by the PM's Press adviser who did not think in detail about how to meet the public demand for a more communicative PM ~ such a demand is a natural corollary to the Prime Minister's own promise that his government would be transparent. Like so many other things in this government, this blunder by the PMO will too go unaccounted. No one will be held responsible because the PM has the reputation of being a soft person. He has seldom taken any action against people making mistakes. Even in the matter of corruption, he waited till he was forced to sack telecommunications minister Mr A Raja and former CWG Organising Committee chairman Mr Suresh Kalmadi.
Yet, a lot of explaining needs to be done to the people of Bangladesh because they are far from pacified by New Delhi's apology or the announcement that the Prime Minister will visit Bangladesh during 7-8 September. Bangladeshis are not an anti-India lot and they nostalgically recall the time when the Indian Army fought by the side of Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh War.
The Opposition leaders in Bangladesh, as it happens all over the world, react to situations to reap political dividends. But to dub them or a segment of them as anti-India is neither fair not correct. But then, such are the inscrutable ways of the PMO which claims to be the custodian of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reputation.
The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator
6 July 2011
I have often wondered whether there is a clique at work in the PMO which is trying to discredit
Dr Singh on purpose
"We must reckon that at least 25 % of the population of Bangladesh swears by the Jamaat-e-Islami and they are very anti-Indian and they are in the clutches… of the ISI." These words by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh are part of the record of his informal talks with five editors that his office released a few days ago. Why a seasoned politician person like him should be so indiscreet is beyond me and why the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has included these remarks in the official transcript uploaded on to the Prime Minister's website leaves me confounded.
One, Jamaat-e-Islami does not command the following of even one quarter of the Bangladeshi population. In the last general election, the party was routed. Two, how did the Prime Minister arrive at the conclusion that all members of the Jamaat-e-Islami harboured anti-India views? They are fundamentalists, no doubt, but every fundamentalist is not anti-India. The Jamaat has justifiably protested against the remark.
I have always held that the chiefs of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) who brief every Prime Minister daily are seldom accurate in their assessment. I cannot imagine that Dr Singh would have spoken about the Jamaat the way he did without their inputs. Their sources are dubious. I have had an unhappy experience with RAW and IB when I was India's High Commissioner to England.
The blame comes to the PMO which released the recorded talks without listening to them beforehand or reading the transcript first. The office is supposed to edit out words of the Prime Minister that he may have spoken on the spur of the moment. He could not have meant what he said about Bangladeshis the way it is being taken in Bangladesh. This is the reason why he rang up Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina so promptly and that's why the ministry of external affairs has offered the Bangladesh government an apology.
In fact, the five editors who talked to him for an hour a few days ago have been more discreet while sharing with the media their discussions with the PM. Even their writings pertaining to the meeting with the PM didn't contain anything controversial. They were sensitive to what their words might convey because no official briefing had been done. Probably, they were conscious to avoid any criticism of the Prime Minister. By the time the PMO realised its mistake, it was too late. After uploading the transcript of the talks on to the website, which remained Online for 30 hours, it withdrew the portion referring to Bangladeshis. But the damage was done because Bangladeshi media had gone to town on the Prime Minister's remark.
The Prime Minister, tense as he is these days, is obviously under pressure. He is fighting against the Opposition, the dissidents in his own party and carping coalition partners, some of whom are flirting with the Opposition. His gaffe should not indicate that he is helplessly dependent on a few in his office. His problem is that he does not pursue his own instincts as the 2G spectrum scam has shown. There is a welcome report about possible wholesale transfers in the PMO. In fact, the PMO does need to be pruned. Indira Gandhi expanded it unnecessarily because of the type of government she ran.
Naturally, the diplomatic circles are shocked because they do not expect such remarks from Prime Dr Singh who is a mature politician and an international figure. India has a standing in the world and every word it's government utters and every action it seeks is taken seriously, particularly by neighbouring countries.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is doing everything in her power to strengthen ties with India. Dr Singh has himself acknowledged that the "Bangladesh government has gone out of its way to help us in apprehending anti-Indian insurgent groups which were operating from Bangladesh for a long time". Sheikh Hasina has given the much-needed transit facilities to India so that North-eastern states could be reached faster than it used to be because vehicles carrying goods to the states had to make a lot of detour earlier in order to circumvent Bangladesh. She has also taken a number of steps to improve economic relations between the two countries. Indeed, the Prime Minister's remark must have come as a shock to her.
Yet, Dhaka was very mature in its response. It summoned India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dhaka to know about New Delhi's version of the goof-up. He reportedly assured it that India's relations ran far deeper than to be affected by a remark here or an indiscretion there. Nonetheless, Dr Singh's words have come in handy for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and other Opposition elements which were only waiting for an excuse to take to the streets. They want to put a spanner in Sheikh Hasina's efforts to straighten things internally and with foreign countries, including India. Not everything that she does may be right but that is her domestic problem, not ours.
I have often wondered whether there is a clique at work in the PMO which is trying to discredit Dr Singh on purpose. Even the manner in which five editors were called for an informal talk with the PM was ill-conceived and ill-executed. It was a subjective selection by the PM's Press adviser who did not think in detail about how to meet the public demand for a more communicative PM ~ such a demand is a natural corollary to the Prime Minister's own promise that his government would be transparent. Like so many other things in this government, this blunder by the PMO will too go unaccounted. No one will be held responsible because the PM has the reputation of being a soft person. He has seldom taken any action against people making mistakes. Even in the matter of corruption, he waited till he was forced to sack telecommunications minister Mr A Raja and former CWG Organising Committee chairman Mr Suresh Kalmadi.
Yet, a lot of explaining needs to be done to the people of Bangladesh because they are far from pacified by New Delhi's apology or the announcement that the Prime Minister will visit Bangladesh during 7-8 September. Bangladeshis are not an anti-India lot and they nostalgically recall the time when the Indian Army fought by the side of Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh War.
The Opposition leaders in Bangladesh, as it happens all over the world, react to situations to reap political dividends. But to dub them or a segment of them as anti-India is neither fair not correct. But then, such are the inscrutable ways of the PMO which claims to be the custodian of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reputation.
The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator __._,_.___
