Thursday, June 25, 2009

How to suck up to any leader - by Natwar Singh

Thanks to T.Chaturvedi for pointing to this editorial.
Mr. Natwar Singh former external affairs minister in this editorial reminisces fondly on old stories about Iran and his association with Ayatollah Khomeini the leader of Iran. In what is an article filled with incidents of how he "adeptly diplomatically managed" relations with the Ayatollah. There are insights like this,
The Iranian political-cum-religious establishment is very powerful, very secretive. Vital decisions are taken behind closed doors. The word of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini cannot be ignored. One may disagree with him in private, but public criticism is not permissible.

He warns those opposing the Ayatollah with,
The Ayatollah is still the supreme leader. The West and Israel would be unwise to take him on.

But Mr. Natwar Singh the Ayatollah you are talking about is dead more than a decade ago! There's a new sheriff(Ayatollah) in town and given your position of ridicule in Indian politics, this statement has little merit. However thanks for you have again proved this blog's point of laughing at the ineptness and ignorance of most Indian politicians and bureaucrats.

10 comments:

Shrivathsa said...

The Iranian political-cum-religious establishment is very powerful, very secretive. Vital decisions are taken behind closed doors.

wow!!! I for a moment thought that they take vital decisions in public! Is this person naive or pretentious? How many times did Indira Gandhi take decisions in public?

Anonymous said...

The initial reaction is whether we are in the wrong month amd date (April 1st). By some pompous writings this ex-bureaucrat-cum-minister-cum-politcian is able to sustain his self-importance, albeit in a pathetic manner. Poor fellow, should be feeling lost having been thrown out of the durbar. Anyhow, he seems to be living in a different century altogether, Chacha Nehru, Mme Gandhi, NAM and all the third-world paraphernalia.

But, for a supposedly serious paper to publish this article shows a surprising lack of editorial supervision.

T. Chaturvedi said...

Thanks for highlighting this issue. Our points have been re-inforced by the clarification issued by reader's editor. People are bound to be more amused after reading the clarification. Basically, Natwar Singh got everything wrong - right from names to dates! And Hindu's editorial team was half asleep when they approved this article for publication!

"* * In an article “Iran and India, yesterday and today” (Op-Ed, June 25, 2009), its author, former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, began by first (and incorrectly) referring to Iran’s supreme leader as Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, and then narrating instances of his meetings with him. The third, 16th and 17th paragraphs also referred to the Ayatollah in the present tense, leaving many readers confused. Mr. Singh was only reminiscing about the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (September 24, 1902 – June 3, 1989) and not his successor and current Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khâmenei."

T. Chaturvedi said...

oops... I couldn't paste the whole clarification above.. here's the remaining part..

"The blurb of the article said “In the context of an episode from the 1990s, some thoughts on what stand India could take with respect to the present situation in Iran.” The incidents referred to in the article were specifically in 1982 and 1986. The blurb should have said “from the 1980s”, especially as Ayatollah Khomeini, the subject of the article, passed away in 1989.

The first paragraph also said “There is a Persian saying which in translation reads thus: The unspoken word is your slave, the spoken word your master.” The Arab proverb is: “While the word is yet unspoken, you are master of it; when once it is spoken, it is master of you.” "

kuttychathan said...

"The Ayatollah is still the supreme leader. The West and Israel would be unwise to take him on...", so says Natwarlal...

By the same logic, 'Osama is still the supreme leader in Taliban held territories of Afghanistan & Peshawar.The West and Israel would be unwise to take him on...'

I would like to know who select the blockheads who write such idiotic pieces for the edit & op-ed pages of chindu.

kuttychathan said...

By the way... another point. China has banned google for not being co-operative enough to snuff out all those blogs critical of china. (Perhaps.. China's targets include this blog too!). Chindu's brand new Beijing correspondent, Idiot Krishnan reports about the ban in today's paper. Please read the story to see for yourself, the way that drooling kid talks about china.

Ofcourse the story is mildly critical of china. It is only because Idiot Krishnan comes from the Kasturi family that the story managed to make it to the pages of the chindu. Any other non-family-correspondent would have been sent to the Tianenmen for writing such a story.

kuttychathan said...

One more point I just remembered... Has Natwarlal and his thuggy-son had made any oil deals in Ayatolla's Iran?

Friend T.C pleae do some snooping...

cbcnn_Pilid said...

DD,

I cannot believe that Natwar Singh who was the FM a few years ago does not recall that Khomeini has been succeeded by Khamenei now. It appears that his faculties have begun to desert him. Any idea how old he is?

Anon #1 said...

Kuttychatan
Remember a few days ago chindu published an article on Iran which basically said
a) US and other western countries doesn't understand how the system works in Iran. So, they should not meddle with it.
b) China has the encyclopedic knowledge about the ground realities of Iran and hence is the only country which should say/do something.

The article was written by Bhadrakumar (the regular chindu writer of nonsense!)

Sudhir said...

Hey! I got inspired to write my own blog on this after reading it here!

http://serious--fun.blogspot.com/2009/06/natwar-singhs-wisdom-at-full-display.html

- Sudhir