Tidbits of the region’s media

In a recent far-from-usual meeting with the press held in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complained that 'at least 25 percent of Bangladeshis swear by Jamaat-e-Islami' – Bangladesh's largest Islamist political party – 'are very anti-Indian, and [are] in the clutches, many times, of the ISI.' Now Chhetria Patrakar grants that Prime Minister Singh is a mere human, entitled to his opinions and free to voice them off the record – as in this case, reportedly. But if he is serious about rectifying the perception in the media that he is more than just a 'lame duck' leader, he had better make some heads roll in the Prime Minister's Office and the Press Information Bureau. After all, we all know that politics isn't about the tiny slips of passion, insight, truth or blatant opinionising, but about how well the spin doctors do their job. In this case, the public was unaware of these statements until the transcript of the meeting was posted on official websites for 30 hours without any omission of 'off-the-record' remarks.

Still, politics, bilateral relations and sober thinking be damned, right? Although unintentional, CP lauds this unobstructed flow of information, highlighted by the official made-a-mistake-by-mistake response: 'We put it out by mistake.' The prime minister's Bangla-slip is no longer online. Thank goodness the official response from Bangladesh so far has been limited to one minister dismissing the statements as 'irrelevant', with Prime Minister Singh's planned visit to Bangladesh in early September remaining on track. As for the response from the prime minister: it has been, well … silence. The press corps must maybe wait another several years for a similar chance to grill Manmohan Singh.