Overreaction to ‘Underachiever’

The Time magazine cover story on Manmohan Singh was a long drag with little new to report

It was amusing to see the reactions following the publication of Time magazine’s cover story on Manmohan Singh (‘The Underachiever’, 16 July). The PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) quickly claimed that all was well and dismissed the article as “rubbish” and “not based on fact”. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a press conference saying that Singh should resign. P Chidambaram then reminded the opposition that it hasn’t got much glory either, the same weekly having carried a similar unflattering report on Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 (‘Asleep At The Wheel’). News anchors devoted hours of prime time to the article, and the online social media was abuzz with those defending the prestige of their leader after having come under attack from a foreign publication.

But what is it that sent all of them into paroxysms? Not only did the article have nothing new to say, it only made it to the cover of Time’s Asian edition. Its EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and South Pacific editions carried German Chancellor Angela Merkel on their covers, while the US edition ran a story about the US Supreme Court’s ruling on one Affordable Care Act.

And it is unlikely that many in India even read the article. According to the magazine’s website, its Asian edition has a circulation of 264,033, of which some 46,890 copies sell in India. The magazine is priced at Rs 110 and is available only in select stores. For those in India who read the article, it is improbable that they would have learned anything new that would have left them aghast at the Prime Minister leading their country. The article is simply a recounting of Singh’s life and career—from his roots in the Pakistani village of Gah to his rise to become India’s Prime Minister. Even its point about the inability of Singh to deal with India’s currently bleak economy is something various publications have been saying for months. One could in fact argue that the ‘Underachiever’ tag is much kinder than many other epithets like ‘Complete failure’ that have been doing the rounds in Indian publications.

Just because a foreign magazine, distinguished as it might be, does a story on Indian leadership doesn’t mean we should give it so much importance.

About The Author

Lhendup G Bhutia

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