PM’s office sends strong rejoinder to Washington Post story: Read entire letter

New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office has sent a strong rebuttal to American daily the Washington Post, which has published an article about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying his image is one of a “dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government”. The PMO has described the article as a “one-sided assessment.”

Here’s the full text of the letter sent by the PMO:

Dear Simon,

We do not complain about criticism of the government which is a journalist’s right. But I am writing this letter for pointing out unethical and unprofessional conduct at your part.

I would like to put on record my complaint about your article which was published today on many counts:

– Despite all lines of conversations open, you never got in touch with us for our side of the story though you regularly talk to me about information from the PMO. This story thus becomes totally one sided.

– You have been telling the media here in India that your request for an interview was declined though the mail below says clearly that the interview was declined “till the Monsoon Session” of the Parliament which gets over in two days.

– When I rang you up to point this out, you said sorry twice though you tell the media here that you never apologised.

– Your website where we could have posted a reply is still not working, 11 hours after you said sorry the third time for its inaccessibility.

– The former Media Adviser to the PM Dr Sanjaya Baru has complained that you “rehashed and used” an 8 month old quote from an Indian Magazine.

We expected better from the correspondent of the Washington Post for fair and unbiased reporting.

Without going into your one sided assessment of the Prime Minister’s performance, as comment is free in journalism, I hope you will carry this communication in full in your paper and your website so your readers can judge for themselves what is the truth.

Sincerely
Pankaj Pachauri
Communications Adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office