On a day of furious rejoinders, the Washington Post has admitted that several quotes from its critical article about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first appeared in Indian magazine Caravan last year. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office slammed the Post’s correspondent for “unethical and unprofessional conduct” amidst debate about whether his request to interview Dr. Singh had been declined or not.
The original article, by India bureau chief Simon Denyer, on a “silent” and “tragic” Prime Minister has provoked widespread online discussion, with almost 2,000 comments on the Post website alone. Much of the discussion revolved around why Mr. Denyer had failed to credit Caravan’s 2011 article which had originally carried the same or very similar quotes from historian Ramachandra Guha and the PM’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru.
On his Facebook page, Mr. Baru complained that “Simon Denyer quotes me in Washington Post without talking to me. He has merely rehashed what I told Caravan last year.”
Ultimately, the Post issued a correction, saying: “While both men told the Post that the assertions could accurately be attributed to them, the article should have credited the Caravan when it used or paraphrased the remarks.” The updated article now includes the Caravan references.
However, on Twitter, Mr. Denyer cited his notes from an on-the-record conversation with Mr. Baru — although those were not the quotes used for the article — to substantiate his claim that he had spoken to the former media adviser.
The Press Trust of India reports that another expert quoted in the article — Tushar Poddar, India Economist of Goldman Sachs — has also distanced himself from the comments attributed to him, telling the Post that “these published remarks bear little or no resemblance to my recollection of a conversation I had with your correspondent several months ago."
PMO slams Post
Meanwhile, current communications advisor Pankaj Pachauri sent an official rejoinder to the Post slamming the “totally one-sided” story. “You never got in touch with us for our side of the story though you regularly talk to me about information from the PMO,” he wrote. “You have been telling the media here in India that your request for an interview was declined though the mail below says clearly that the interview was declined ‘till the Monsoon Session’ of the Parliament which gets over in two days.”
In his response, however, Mr. Denyer said he had requested an interview on three occasions and contacted other senior officials in the PMO as well, but his requests were either ignored or declined. “When I made my final request for an interview with the PM in July, I was told on July 30 ‘The PM has declined all interview requests till the Monsoon session is over.’ At that stage the current session of parliament (known as the Monsoon session) had not even begun. There was no mention of the possibility of an interview afterwards,” he wrote.
“PMO must apologise”
Bangalore Special Correspondent writes:
Senior BJP leader and former Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh criticised the United Progressive Alliance government on Thursday for demanding an apology from the Post. The apology should come from the PMO to the people of the country and not from the Post, he told presspersons on the sidelines of a function here. “The PMO should apologise for damaging the economy.”
Keywords: Washington Post artcle, Manmohan Singh, PMO response
There have been hundreds of high quality comments supporting the prime minister,
an academic with impeccable integrity,
We are not happy with Dr Manmohan Singh for not being incapable, or mischievous.
We are angry as this great man is losing an opportunity to take India to new heights
in moral behaviour.
Dr Man Mohan Singh is an excellent academic, excellent bureaucrat, honest politician
and a great individual. He took India in the direction of progress in late 20th
Century, and his magic wand keeps India reaching great heights.
This extremely clean Prime Minister is capable of ushering in an era of transparency,
universal health care, and completely eradicating corruption.
Yes, the PM should apologize, undoubtedly. We Indians have a lot of patience, and the stupid government is just taking advantage of this.
I have been reading many of the "2000 comments" on the WashingtonPost website. Most of them are by Indians in complete support of that article and have voiced a lot of already known frustration against the Government and it's leader.
Recalling the much discussed Wall St Journal vs Jameel dispute, the media (WSJ) did not prevail at least partly because their request to talk came too late, the day before publication and did not show enough diligence on the part of media, to deserve the Reynolds privilege.
But one month is substantial time. From July 30th to end of Monsoon season is a long time in the life of newspaper articles. Declining all requests to talk, knowing that the query comes from media, is disastrous. The PR men should have known better.
I have been following the Indian media on this for some time now and to
my dismay none of them showed an affirmation to the truths written by Washington Post. Will you dare Hindu?
If WP had made such comments and uncredited quotes about an American personality, it would have been sued for slander. Knowing that a third world country like India is mostly impotent in such matters, it arrogantly went ahead with publishing this article. In any case, when did we need validation from the Washington Post? Don't we have four times the democratic population of the USA?
Beyond doubt, UPA government has become a symbol for corruption and non-
governance. Naturally Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh who is presiding
over the intensely crooked and inept regime has become a tragic figure.
It is unimaginable that UPA leadership will assent to relinquish power,
knowing it as an inevitable democratic necessity!
Look who is talking ethics and professionalism... What a joke.... Where was all this when 2 g,
cwg, coal was happening? And the article ininfinite percent true. Our PM has been made to
look a tragic figure, (if he is really so or not, is different question) . someone who wrote those
things at the time of independence was correct i believe.
While criticism of UPA-2 govt & its PM on various issues, scams is welcome we must also ponder over reason for American interest in Indian politics. I believe these stories by Times & Washington Post are inspired by corporate America which is frustrated with Indian govt for not allowing them unbriddled profit making from Indian market. Big American & multinational pharma companies are livid with govt for promoting generic drugs & medicine price control. Big retailers like Walmart etc are livid that govt is trying consensus rather than ENFORCING FDI in retail. Arms manufacturer's like Lockheed Martin etc are livid at rejection of their fighter planes. I say this because in USA corporates controlling govt policy & media response is very common. In USA corporates can demand govt to go to war for corporate profit & US govt is bound to oblige. Example Iraq war which was fought to benefit corporates like Bechtel etc & NOT for WMD which everyone knew were not there.
Yes, PMO should not only apologize to the nation but make good loss of the billions of rupees lost to the exchequer. After making good the loss, PM should resign. This is what would happen in a strong democracy in which the media and political whether or not in power/ opposition parties work for the nation. The entire media few ones like The Hindu, in India was soft on UPA in the name of sickular and managed to achieve UPA agenda of coverup of mega scams.
The poor and law abiding citizens of this ancient country is not interested in the mud slinging between Congress and BJP to ensure power and money in 2014.They demand security at home,peace and grace to live , selfesteem and dignity.Four states in North East are in turmoil due to bundh;Sivakasi in TN is bursting killing people;IOC tank bursts in Kannur in Kerala burning to death 21 people;40000 of our bretheren in NE are fleeing South India due to fear psychosis;hatred is created and then provoked to drive away all our own biharis from Mumbai;Srilankan pilgrims are intimidated and driven away in Tanjavur;looting of precious natural resources of India by "mafias"backed by politicians;our citizens languishing in the prisons in Somalia and Pakistan ;thousands of undertrials awaiting justice for decades in prisons;garbages piled up every where,citizens demand solutions for above.To bring down the self esttem of a Prime Minister before galaxy of nations in not in National Interest.
Too cu noise whenever something unpleasant is said about the PM by
someone in the west. Truth is bitter, sometimes.
Pankaj Pachauri must be ruing the day he accepted the media advisor role to a PM on Mute. While the PMs inaction has resulted in no action news, PP has to manage the butt of joke the PM appears to have become... Mr media advisor you can control media in India with a high-handedness and bruteness, your govt. must have some 'force' to counter the TRUTH, which it evidently lacks. You cannot eyewash the public with your statements and 'silence'
Typical.
Instead of accepting the truth and facing the music, the PMO denies the existance of what plagues our country and instead gets defensive. What the Post has written is just simply, the truth. We should thank them for holding a mirror to our plight. If Manmohan and Co. cannot get this country back on track immediately, they need to step aside and let someone else do the job. Do something or leave.
Our PM is emulating our Trinamul leader mamata Baneerjee in giving undue importance to some newspaper article.The whole article is only a perception of our PM not an attack!
Just as an open wound does not need a mirror, the Washington Post's remarks on the PM only repeats what Indian media has been writing about him and despite all the denials by the PMO of the state of affairs in the Manmohan Singh government everyone knows how dismal the situation is. One feels that the PMO is making much ado about nothing and the article has gained publicity only because the PMO created a fuss about it.
Dear Washington Post, I am really appalled at the guts of your
representative to be so dis-honest in making a quote (without
referring to the magazine he was quoting from),lying about the
appointment issues, talking ab nausium to public without varifying the
facts or source. I understand, a newspaper has a right to publish news
/ stories for any body - I have seen these being done about people
like Obama too : but, whatever is published (particularly, paper like
yours) must be authenticated and subject to the truth. If Caravan said
something, does it mean your correspondent accepted it totally ? Also,
do not forget, the paper like yours must be aware of diplomatic /
intra-country relations. Would your correspondent in China dare to do
this based on some local Chinese paper ? If so, what would be the
consequences ? I am not worried about Dr. Singh or his achievements or
otherwise, but your paper is treading on lies published by an unknown
journal.
Apology or no apology from the WP is not the question, the issue we should be more concerned about is the truth in the comments and observations. The unfortunate fact remains that the image of the nation and the economy in general has taken a beating. That needs to be corrected and it would be good if the politicians from all parties put in some real constructive efforts to get the country back on track.
Is this not plagarism? If Fareed Zakaria was somehow quoting an interview it is
and this wasted soul discarded from News of the world is okay! The PMO should
put an end to anything coming from the Australian owned, disgraced in UK,
poisonous in US ...
The Hindu is focusing on the unattributed quotes rather than on the article itself. The article in Washington Post was factually correct and right on the mark. Our PM is a tragic figure. The Hindu should foucs on substance, not on the attribution of the quotes.
Insofar as Wasihngton Post is concerned, it looks as though it has made amends. It does not appear to have made any visible dparture from its earlier stand. Though there are pinches, Press knows how to make it appear as if there are no pinches. It makes one wonder whether Washington Post has served 'old wind in a new bottle'.
Regardless of the corrections issued by the Washington Post, the essence of its article, which has infuriated the PMO, is essentially true. India has a VIP culture and the country's politicians and so-called celebrities are very sensitive to critisisms by the media (unlike the media in countries such as the US) as as well as routine security checks at airports etc. Other countries are watching India and they take a dim view of the rampant corruption and poor governance prevalent in the country. If the Govt. had addressed these issues, there would have been no need for the PMO to issue protests to foreign media who are only reporting what they see.
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