In a bubble

Moody silences broken by unnervingly hollow words make up the ambient music of UPA 2. The government spent all of last year in dazed silence,shell-shocked by the spate of scams. Not only did it stop talking,it wanted everyone else to shut up,too. It is trying to shake off the cobwebs,now that elections are palpably close. But now it says any old thing when it should keep its counsel. This week,in the public eye,the ministry of defences statement on the shooting of Indian soldiers in Poonch went through a spectacularly embarrassing revision. Earlier,statements on the poverty line have caused general hilarity. The ruckus over food security and the claim that poverty had fallen dramatically under the UPA provided opportunities for public figures to make absurd claims about the price of a square meal.

Deafened by echo chambers,the government can no longer hear what it is saying. It can start listening to public opinion only with a hearing aid. The ministrys new wing is a beginning,but it should really try to listen rather than troll sorry,communicate. And if it must speak,let it first explain what concurrent media is.

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