This morning someone brought to my attention a series of three articles by Shashi Tharoor, written with the aim of “ripping into” Modi’s foreign policy. The series is published in the National Herald, the “newspaper” that was urgently brought back to life around the time Rahul G and Sonia G had to get themselves bail in a scam associated to it.
Among Shashi Tharoor’s complaints, the reduction of the Prime Minister of India to a “travelling salesman.” Among his failures, things like a promised $100 billion investment from China getting “watered down” to a mere $30 billion.
I can imagine the aversion of Shashi Tharoor (and the Congress Party in general) towards “salesmen.” The Congress is the party of the privileged. Its leaders as well as its cheerleaders are merely sons and daughters of an extremely tiny sliver of Indian society that made a fortune being cozy to the British and then thrived under Nehruvian socialism. A salesman, on the other hand, is a wealth creator, no matter how small.
But the salesman is belittled and mocked by the upper class, folks like Shashi Tharoor and Mani Shankar Aiyar. To P Chidambaram, a small tea or pakoda seller is little more than a beggar.
Like everything else, the upper class of Tharoors, Chidambarams and Aiyyars is hypocritical about “begging.”
If you sit in front of CST Station in Mumbai with a bowl, you are a “beggar.” If you are fluent in English and French and you go behind closed doors to beg from white people in distant countries, it’s no longer begging but called “diplomacy.”
Which is what Indira Gandhi used to do.
Dear Shashi Tharoor, if our current PM is a travelling salesman, should I call Indira Gandhi a travelling beggar?
Yes, soon after becoming Prime Minister, Indira left for her first foreign trip bearing on her shoulders the shiny burden of fifteen years of Congress rule. Mostly that of the years under the great Nehru. Her mission?
Beg for wheat.
It was actually a two-part mission. First, beg for wheat. Second, don’t let common Indians find out that she is begging for wheat.
So, on one hand, Indira begged the US to send ships of wheat. On the other hand, India carried out withering criticism of US foreign policy to make it appear as if we were more than just beggars. An angry US President Lyndon Johnson decided to send ships of food aid by the month, instead of making an annual commitment.
One American newspaper headlined her visit as follows:
“New Indian Leader Comes Begging”
Ah! What a way for India’s Prime Minister to cover our nation with glory! But don’t worry, that was just a newspaper in the American south. As Ram Guha records, Indira Gandhi made a much better impression on the American East Coast, due to the “elegance of her dress.”
I am glad that Indira Gandhi managed to dress with an elegance that was beyond the means of some beggar. I bet the Indians who got the food aid were extremely grateful.
“Travelling salesman” looking much better now, eh?
Are you an Indian who has ever felt angry at the insulting, patronizing tone that Western media takes towards India? Have you ever wondered where that impression comes from?
Here is your answer. That impression comes from facts. While they acted as entitled Queens at home, when they went abroad, the only thing India’s Prime Minister would have to offer was a begging bowl.
I don’t think Modi’s accent in speaking English would impress anyone. But the returns from the foreign visits of the travelling salesman speak for themselves.
The last two years of UPA added $1 billion to our forex reserves. The first two years of Modi government added $55 billion. By Jan 2018, this had grown to $411 billion.
But, it’s not like Indira Gandhi’s foreign travels achieved nothing.
The Indian Rupee had to be devalued from Rs 4.76 to the dollar to Rs 7.50 to the dollar, a 57% reduction.
For easy reference, I have prepared this simple chart to explain the Indira model of boosting India through her foreign travels.
Dear reader, which side are you leaning towards : travelling salesman or travelling beggar?
dynastycrooks 
Dear CW,
You really know to hit where it hurts most! 🙂
Hope Tharoor & Congi bootlickers read this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lets say this…..superb article….
Especially “If you sit in front of CST Station in Mumbai with a bowl, you are a “beggar.” If you are fluent in English and French and you go behind closed doors to beg from white people in distant countries, it’s no longer begging but called “diplomacy.”
I think likes of tharoor dont realize if you have to demean any job its not difficult.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Sujoy and Professor Vidyasagar Ji,
What do you think of mediacrooks new initiative to form a political party? I would be happy if Both of you can join!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Ms. Iyer! (Or is it Mr. for Sudhakar?)
Where did you see that Media Crooks is forming a political party? In any case, people like me or Sujoy joining a formal political party would be a waste. Anything we say would be viewed through that prism. Right now we can criticize even the BJP if we so wish.
Do you remember. Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan? He was an IAS officer in the (undivided) AP cadre. Then he formed a forum called Lok Satta which was trying to expose corruption. He was moderately effective, but not overly so, because he was preachy and irritating. Also, he was just too far ahead of his time, with the mainstream media totally dominant and no social media. Then he turned Lok Satta into a political party. While he himself got elected as an MLA, I felt that his effectiveness was essentially zero. However, IF he had retained Lok Satta as just a forum and not a political party, he would have had a HUGE following right now. Do you see what I mean?
LikeLike
Here are the tweets:
MediaCrooks (@mediacrooks) Tweeted:
Im happy at the support Im getting… The general idea is.. “The Hindu National Party”… write to mediacrooks@gmail.com… I PROMISE to execute this plan… https://twitter.com/mediacrooks/status/982290039005593606?s=17
MediaCrooks (@mediacrooks) Tweeted:
Now this I am very serious about… In 2019… I want 250 TRUE HINDU candidates for LS… Im asking for help… come forward with names.. come forward with ideas… Write a mail to me… We will action it… Hindus should finally stand up for themselves… https://twitter.com/mediacrooks/status/982280767664406529?s=17
I am disillusioned by BJP for the utter lack of intent towards satisfying its so called core voter base. I wish they wake up from their stupor!!
LikeLike
To begin with, Shashi Tharoor should be doing circles to the courts of law. If the Talwars are accused by CBI allegedly being guilty of their daughters death, then why didn’t they put Shashi Tharoor, as all suspicions point to, as the alleged (co)conspirator of his wife’s death? She got into the wrong group, pity her, she had to pay with her life. That would have kept his devils workshop busy. Now, we have to bear with these writings of this bigot. Why doesn’t he write something about his wife.. the events before her death, his differences with his newly wed?
Now coming to the these writings of Shashi, I do not understand why CW has to come out and waste an article on those? Given CW more or less writes one article/day, we lost one day’s worth of his effort. What extra ordinary Shashi has done to seek our attention? Does the least used words of a dictionary give him that position? Or a cutie face with drooling hair and dark world connections gives him that?
The only positive I see here is the facts of the Modi’s achievements. However, even that shouldn’t have come in response to this cross breed pidi wagging for megalomaniac dynasty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For real cattle class idiots of 48 years, KFC type business is no path to economy, but French or English begging bowl is new economy.
LikeLike
Shashi Tharoor (and many in the Congress party) along with the liberal ecosystem seem to think that attacking Modi will bring him down. In fact, beginning from Mani Shankar Iyers chaiwala jibe, each attack has only made Modi stronger. Also the Congress and Left lacks the credibility to attack the current government given their awful past track record. Nobody takes their attacks or words seriously anymore. This leads to desperation where the next attack is even more shallower and invites more jeers (and yawns).
To get back into reckoning, Congress and other opposition parties need to build credibility and resonate with voters (especially the youth). If their only message is going to be loan waiver and tax the rich, then they have lost it very badly. They should learn how Modi crafted an identity in national politics by building up a brand of business friendliness, Hindutva and development. Or learn from Yogi who built up a brand of tackling crime, non-appeasement and being a proud Hindu.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think the biggest credibility gap that the Congress has is that not one, NOT ONE, of its top functionaries has ever DONE ANYTHING! They are all just privileged, lazy, good for nothing DYNASTS. RaGa is just the tip of the iceberg. There are also Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, and so on and so forth. They are a very top-heavy “organisation” if it might be so-called. The fact that they are a totally clueless bunch can be seen from their abortive attempt at a five-hour “fast”. Even by itself the concept of a five-hour fast was totally absurd. On top of that, RaGa was two hours late, and the rest of the “fasters” were photographed before the fast chugging down Chole Bhatura like the greedy pigs they are. Even a committed pidi like Tehseen Poonawala got frustrated.
https://twitter.com/WrongDoc/status/983302195146735616
LikeLike
The Congress party and its leaders are not leaders of Independent India instead they are the last vestiges of the Raj. Its not for nothing that the British called it ‘transfer of power Act’ and not called ‘Indian Independence Act’. Nehru remained a PM in name only as all important institutions of power continued to report to the British masters! Don’t take my word for it, in the netaji SC Bose archives declassified recently it is clearly mentioned that the IB continued to report to MI5 in London till as late as 1971. The Home Ministry and External Affairs to a large extent were following the diktats of London. The Chief of Armed Forces was a Britisher till 1956!! The only thing that happened in 1947 was transfer of power from white sahebs to the brown sahebs of the Congress who continued to follow all the vile practices of the British on fellow Indian citizens. Its like the Congress became the ruling class and the rest were colonized people. If you consider this legacy of the Congress it is not a wonder that the likes of Tharoor, Chidambaram and sundry others of Congress behave in the manner they do. For them the Indian population are the colonized and they are the colonizers. Plain and simple. That is the reason they are so angry at PM Modi as comes from a humble background and therefore he views fellow citizens as equals and not colonized people. Just look at Congress tactics they continue to break the unity of India by dividing people on the basis of religion, caste, language, and you name it. Why? because they are the brown sahebs and they cannot consider common citizens of India as equals as they have contempt for them in the same way the colonizing British had for the colonized Indian population. Until the common realize the game being played by the CONgress India cannot become truly independent from tyranny of colonialism.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hey, I am better upwasi. I daily do 7hrs. fasting, no chhola bhatura in between, only coffee. And I have better aim for fasting, not to joke on dalits.
LikeLike