Angry govt for 'strong action' against article slamming PM

Expressing anger at a biting article in a US daily that criticised PM Manmohan Singh and his government, the government is mulling 'strong action' in the matter. How web reacted to Washington Post article calling PM 'ineffectual'

Expressing anger at a biting article in a US daily that criticised PM Manmohan Singh and his government, the government is mulling 'strong action' in the matter.

"The article on the prime minister by a paper like Washington Post is unacceptable. The claims made there are completely baseless and we reject it," said I&B minister Ambika Soni, calling the report a piece of "yellow journalism".

"If the Washington Post has written things like this against the PM, trust me I will take strong action against them," Soni said adding that the issue will be taken up with the external affairs ministry and other departments for requisite action.

The article, 'India's 'silent' prime minister becomes a tragic figure", said: "The image of the scrupulously honourable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government."

The Washington Post article comes after a July article on 'Time' magazine, which dubbed the PM an "underachiever".

Predictably, the BJP gloated. "It has taken a long time for The Washington Post to realise that the PM does not speak... The position of the prime minister today is untenable," BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.