"Nothing captures the black humour in all this as much as the drama around Narendra Modi’s much-quoted derring-do in allegedly pulling off the rescue of 15,000 Gujarati pilgrims. The story, published in a national daily and since denied, had it that the Gujarat Chief Minister flew into the State right in the middle of the raging flash floods and flew out with his contingent. As bravery goes, this was hard to beat, and sure enough the ‘heroics’ got the online world buzzing with excitement. There was much exclaiming over a single determined man being able to do what the Indian Army could not. Though the story has been denied, several versions of it are now in circulation, minus the implausible figure of 15,000 but nonetheless full of dazzling details on how the rescue was organised. There has also been some angst over the Uttarakhand government’s refusal to accept from Mr. Modi the offer of two dozen helicopters, besides assistance to rebuild the Kedarnath temple. It can be nobody’s case that a Chief Minister or an individual politician should not offer help in a national crisis. But there is a time and place for it. Excessive help and excessive publicity for the help can be counter-productive."(The Hindu )
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 07:06:39 +0000