Trump’s Comment on India and the Political Backlash It Triggered
Why Calling India a ‘Hell Hole’ Hurt Public Sentiment
Urban Chaos, Pollution and Poverty: The Harsh Realities Behind the Remark
National Pride vs Present-Day Crisis: Are We Ignoring the Obvious?
Should Criticism Focus on Trump’s Words or India’s Ground Reality?
Looking Beyond Outrage: Confronting Structural Problems in India
Donald Trump’s “hell hole” remark on India triggered sharp political backlash, but the deeper question remains: are India’s pollution, poverty, corruption, and urban crises being ignored behind the outrage?
What was wrong with Trump's remark?
By Justice Markandey Katju
A big hue and cry is going on in India over US President Trump's remark, "a baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet "
The Indian government has criticised Trump's statement as being 'uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste'
The main opposition party in India, the Congress, has called Trump's statement " extremely insulting and anti-Indian, and hurtful to every Indian"
The objection is obviously to calling India a 'hell hole'
But what is wrong in that description?
I am presently in one hell hole called Bangalore, having come here for a couple of days from another hell hole called Delhi. I have also been to other hell holes like Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow etc
The air pollution, the nightmarish traffic jams, the congestion in cities, the mounds of garbage lying everywhere on the streets, the polluted rivers, polluted food and water ( which cause various diseases), the water logging on the streets during the monsoon rains, the widespread corruption at every level etc, which make life unbearable for the common man and woman, surely justify calling India a hell hole.
And this is apart from the massive poverty and unemployment in India, the appalling level of child malnutrition (every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index, and the situation is getting worse), almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for our masses, etc.
No doubt, Indians can feel proud over the great achievements of our ancestors.
But we have to see our situation today, and not keep gloating over the past.
And the truth is that today India is indeed a hell hole
So why criticise Trump for speaking the truth? One may criticise him on other issues, but here he is spot on.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
