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Washington Post says no apology for PM 'ineffectual' article
The Washington Post on Wednesday said that no apology has been offered for an article written by the India bureau chief which called Manmohan Singh a 'silent' Prime Minister who has become 'a tragic figure'.
TV channels claimed that the Prime Minister's Office has sought an apology from the paper and said that its demand was accepted but the Washington Post vehemently denied it.
Simon Denyer, the bureau chief, in a tweet from his personal account responded to a reader saying: "@KabirTaneja Its not true. No threats were issued from their side, no apology was offered from mine".
After the Time magazine dubbed Manmohan Singh an "underachiever", the Washington Post article criticised him as a 'silent' Prime Minister who has become 'a tragic figure'.
"... the image of the scrupulously honorable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government," the article said.
The article said that under Singh, "economic reforms have stalled, growth has slowed sharply and the rupee has collapsed. But just as damaging to his reputation is the accusation that he looked the other way and remained silent as his cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets".
The UPA 2 government has been under tremendous pressure over the controversy surrounding the CAG report over the coal blocks allocation which stated that they caused a loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.
A belligerent Opposition has been demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister over coal row and has disrupted Parliament stalling both Houses.
The monsoon session which ends on Friday is about to be washed out because of Opposition's unrelenting stand.
The Post article talks about how Singh "introduced a series of policies that freed the Indian economy from suffocating state control and unleashed the dynamism of its private sector" and says that he "is in danger of going down in history as a failure".
The Time magazine too had criticised Singh, who has been lauded for his pivotal role in liberalising the Indian economy, has been dubbed as an "underachiever" by a top US magazine, which says he appears "unwilling to stick his neck out" on reforms that will put the country back on growth path.
Singh, 79, is featured on the cover of Time magazine's Asia edition, which will be out next week. With his portrait in the background, the title on the cover reads The Underachiever — India needs a reboot.
'Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?' Time's report titled A Man in Shadow asks, adding that apart from facing the challenges of a slowdown in economic growth, huge fiscal deficit and a falling rupee, Congress party-led UPA coalition "has found itself fending off corruption scandals...."
"....investors 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," the magazine said.
Pointing towards Singh's fall "from grace," the magazine said, "in the past three years, the calm confidence he (Singh) once radiated has been absent. He seems unable to control his ministers and — his new, temporary portfolio at the finance ministry notwithstanding — unwilling to stick his neck out on reforms..."
The Washington Post on Wednesday said that no apology has been offered for an article written by the India bureau chief which called Manmohan Singh a 'silent' Prime Minister who has become 'a tragic figure'.
TV channels claimed that the Prime Minister's Office has sought an apology from the paper and said that its demand was accepted but the Washington Post vehemently denied it.
Simon Denyer, the bureau chief, in a tweet from his personal account responded to a reader saying: "@KabirTaneja Its not true. No threats were issued from their side, no apology was offered from mine".
After the Time magazine dubbed Manmohan Singh an "underachiever", the Washington Post article criticised him as a 'silent' Prime Minister who has become 'a tragic figure'.
"... the image of the scrupulously honorable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government," the article said.
The article said that under Singh, "economic reforms have stalled, growth has slowed sharply and the rupee has collapsed. But just as damaging to his reputation is the accusation that he looked the other way and remained silent as his cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets".
The UPA 2 government has been under tremendous pressure over the controversy surrounding the CAG report over the coal blocks allocation which stated that they caused a loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.
A belligerent Opposition has been demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister over coal row and has disrupted Parliament stalling both Houses.
The monsoon session which ends on Friday is about to be washed out because of Opposition's unrelenting stand.
The Post article talks about how Singh "introduced a series of policies that freed the Indian economy from suffocating state control and unleashed the dynamism of its private sector" and says that he "is in danger of going down in history as a failure".
The Time magazine too had criticised Singh, who has been lauded for his pivotal role in liberalising the Indian economy, has been dubbed as an "underachiever" by a top US magazine, which says he appears "unwilling to stick his neck out" on reforms that will put the country back on growth path.
Singh, 79, is featured on the cover of Time magazine's Asia edition, which will be out next week. With his portrait in the background, the title on the cover reads The Underachiever — India needs a reboot.
'Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?' Time's report titled A Man in Shadow asks, adding that apart from facing the challenges of a slowdown in economic growth, huge fiscal deficit and a falling rupee, Congress party-led UPA coalition "has found itself fending off corruption scandals...."
"....investors 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," the magazine said.
Pointing towards Singh's fall "from grace," the magazine said, "in the past three years, the calm confidence he (Singh) once radiated has been absent. He seems unable to control his ministers and — his new, temporary portfolio at the finance ministry notwithstanding — unwilling to stick his neck out on reforms..."
