Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Protest all you want to, before and when George Bush visits India 8212; we are a democracy. But maintain good form 8212; we are also an institutionally grounded democracy. That applies particularly to public office holders. They, irrespective of their 8220;ideology8221;, are sworn to uphold the dignity of the institutions they serve. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Bengal8217;s chief minister and an important Indian leader, was way out of line, therefore, when he ascribed mass murderous intent to Bush. The US ambassador, David Mulford, was right to protest. The Indian embassy in the US would have done no less had an elected Indian leader been given similar verbal treatment by an American public office holder.
Civility and dignity are not signs of weakness in these contexts; they are a priori recognition that a democracy8217;s public office is larger than any person who holds it at that moment. That is why a delegation of Democrats 8212; bitter opponents of Bush back home 8212; visiting India had also taken objection to Bhattacharya8217;s remarks. That is why a German minister, who had drawn comparisons between Bush and Hitler, had apologised. Bhattacharya, who8217;s extremely unlikely to say sorry, has put a question mark on India8217;s systemic sophistication. That is sad because he8217;s proved himself to be an astute politician in other ways. Not all of his colleagues in the Left can be similarly complimented and, unsurprisingly if unfortunately, they are making the question mark bigger.
