The
Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The site, Sikhism's holiest
shrine,
was part of a U.S. campaign joke by Tonight show host Jay Leno.
Mr.
Leno, in a skit showing the homes of Republican candidates, depicted
the
Golden Temple as Mitt Romney's home on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Deccan Chronicle,
India
'Hot Air' Over Leno
Joke 'Opens India to Ridicule'
"Because
of our ultra-sensitivity and disregard for the principles of free speech, we
run the risk of becoming a global laughing stock. Countries with pretensions of
becoming a superpower cannot behave this way."
Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi: It was his duty to compel the Indian Embassy in Washington to complain to the U.S. State Department about a Jay Leno campaign joke involving the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine.
Minister of Overseas Indian
Affairs Vayalar Ravi has just rushed in where more-sensible people might have
thought twice about treading. By asking the Indian Embassy in Washington to
formally complain to the State Department about a silly joke by TV host Jay
Leno, Minister Ravi has opened himself and his nation to ridicule.
Even before the Embassy could
formulate a protest note, a gentle but unmistakable rebuke arrived from the State
Department, which defended Leno's right to freedom of speech and noted that
President Barack Obama had celebrated
Guru Nanak’s birthday at the White House. [Guru Nanak is said to have founded
Sikhism in 1499].
Mr. Ravi could have spared
himself the blushes if he had actually examined what the fuss was all about. In
showing the Golden Temple, Leno (himself a millionaire), was making fun of
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s opulent lifestyle. No slur about
Sikhism was intended. America's main Sikh organizations remained unperturbed
about the so-called “slur.”
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
But of course, as we have
seen at the Jaipur
Literature Festival, there are always busybodies who rush forward to take
umbrage, which in turn gives them some publicity. And Minister Ravi, no doubt
eager to please voters in election-going Punjab, waded in with orders for the
Indian ambassador (who incidentally, doesn’t report to him).
The government has clearly learned
nothing from the Salman
Rushdie affair. Because of our ultra-sensitivity and disregard for the
principles of free speech, we run the risk of becoming a global laughing stock.
Countries with pretensions of becoming a superpower cannot behave this way, and
Minister Ravi must be reminded of that.
