CRamS wrote:Oh please, spare me this self righteous, this is not how Indians treat their leaders balderdash.
Wow! The pot calling the kettle black as regards self-righteousness.
In an earlier post you wrote:
I wanted him booted out of power, but first honestly exposed and demand answers to the tough questions I posed. Take him to task, verbally that is, for all his pro-TSP nonsense
Unfortunately what you want, I want or anyone else on this forum wants may not matter too much. I know much to the chagrin of successive American Administrations, India does not function as a banana republic whose govts and PMs can be changed on the directive from the Beltway. Indian politicians are
booted out of power when voting Indian citizens want that to happen. So all you can do is hope and pray (I would have added voted but then, I don't think you can vote in an Indian election) that MMS is "booted" out of power in 2014.
I don't think there was any hesitation in publicly humiliating Baba Ramdev (who is a leader of sort to his many followers) by sending out the Delhi cops and brutally busting his movement. And there was no hesitation in the DDM either in mocking Ramdev as a Hindu coward who was allegedly trying to escape in woman's garb.
What the government did with Baba Ramdev was wrong and bad, not doubt about that. It was a show (or even misuse) of raw state power. However, how does that translate to public humiliation? Did Baba Ramdev's following diminish because of what the Govt did? I would guess his image as a champion of the underdog was enhanced due this exercise of state power.
What good is free speech and democracy if a leader's policy cannot be unabashedly questioned and critiqued.
Actually now that I joggle the old memory cells I can recall that there's a good precedent for an Indian form of "public humiliation" or critique of policy. Perhaps you can follow that path by finding a suitable Indian media outlet.
During the height of the Bofors scandal, Rajiv Gandhi, reacting to something Ram Jethmalani said remarked to the effect that he didn't care what barking dogs said.
In reaction, Jethmalani, on a daily basis, posed 10 questions to Rajiv Gandhi through The Statesman newspaper and, if I recall correctly, The Hindu for about a month or so. That really put Rajiv Gandhi on the backfoot and was instrumental along with Chitra Subramaniam's Bofors exposes in undermining his credibility.
So instead of frothing in the mouth and telling Indians how bad they are in keeping this MMS in power instead of giving him some sort of kangaroo court justice or a good ol'fashioned hanging, why don't you pose a daily set of 10 (new) questions charging MMS of incompetency, treachery and the works based on the various acts of commission and omission. If, due to the fact that you're an American citizen, you cannot find a suitable Indian media outlet to run your questions, perhaps you can post them on BRF itself, maybe in a new thread. That can be the basis of a lively discussion on the follies and foibles of our PM. That could even cause a ground swell of popular anger and "public humiliation" if you could link these questions up on a Facebook page. I'll be one of the first to put in a like if yo do so.
Instead of wailing do something about you pet peeve.
Cheers!