There’s something about Union Culture and Tourism Minister Ambika Soni and her overseas trips. Last October, when she was to visit New York for the Incredible India @ 60 celebrations, her ministry’s affidavit on the Ram Sethu case in the Supreme Court transmogrified into a political bomb and her US trip had to be called off. Last week, she was in Singapore for the second leg of the same celebrations, but a series of unfortunate events dogged her visit, most of them of her own making. Kicking off an Indian cultural fest with her local counterpart at Singapore’s High street, Orchard Road, Soni left many red faces when she said, “When economics and politics fail, culture and tourism can succeed.” Perhaps she did not realise that political and economic ties between the two countries couldn’t be warmer. That very evening, at a cultural dinner, she meandered again. After exhorting foreigners to consider India as a destination for short holidays, she spoke about her government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and mid-day meal programmes, leaving most of the audience puzzled. Incidentally, that same evening, another part of Singapore hosted an interesting Punjabi dance party, which was titled Soni De Nakhre.
