Prime Minister, in line of ire

The UPA has been under fire for a lot of things – soaring prices, corruption, scams – you name it. All this while, our PM Dr Manmohan Singh has maintained a stoic silence which had already earned him the epithet ‘lameduck’ Prime Minister.

Making matters worse are comments that international media has been making about the PM. Coming hot on the heels of TIME - Asia edition remarks of the PM being ‘an underachiever’ and a ‘man in shadow’ is the UK’s Independent’s shocker referring to MMS as Sonia’s ‘poodle’.   

The magazine claims that “India needs a reboot” and has slammed UPA saying that “investors at home and abr­o­ad are beginning to get cold feet. Voters too are losing confidence, as rising inflation and a litany of scandals chip away at the government’s credibility.”

For a few, however, any foreign entity pointing a finger at India is just ‘Not Done’. “A man as self-made as Manmohan Singh, an Underachiever? An Oxford alumnus and one of the most distinguished ministers in the Congress, his vision made a backward economy into one of the fastest growing economies in the world. TIME seriously needs a reality check!” fumes Sanjana Sudan, a student of Journalism at Kamala Nehru College.

Pritish Naithani, pursuing Mechanical Engineering is very angry too. “This individual excelled in universities like Cambridge and Oxford. He was the second person in the political history of India who returned to power after completing a full five-year term. He is the architect of India’s original economic reform programme, has worked in places like UNCTAD and was appointed as Governor, RBI.

The U.S. Indian Civil Nuclear Agreement was signed under his president-ship and then some people who stand nowhere when compared to his achievements call him an ‘Underachiever.’ They need to recheck their vocabulary.”

There are some, though who agreed with the assessments and felt that the titles were well-deserved. Ishita Ganguly, a post graduate student says, “It is painful to see the PM take no strong stance on almost any issue of national importance, at least all of those that put his party's position in danger. Having a stoic PM is the worst that can happen to India considering the effects of his stoicity and apparent ‘puppet-behaviour’ on the present and future of the nation.”

Ranjana Majumdar, a graduate says, “Being an economist he really could have contributed in many other ways than just following you-know-who’s instructions. So Time is not wrong to call him an underachiever.” For Preetika Nanda, a graduate, it is pretty much a non-issue.

“The second UPA regime has been extremely authoritarian. It presided over the killing of 120 Kashmiris. Rising prices, faltering economy, targeting minorities has been at an all time high.” she says.

This is the same magazine that had once included the PM in its list of 100 Most Influential People in 2005, but today it would appear that the PM does need to tackle his problems head-on to make sure that everyone gets the messa­ge that he means business.