Apropos Sunanda K Datta Ray’s column “Kowtowing to China” (World Money, September 22), I would like to clarify the erroneous portrayal of facts in the piece. I was the speaker who used the erroneous map that showed Arunachal Pradesh as “disputed” during my presentation at the seminar. The map was not used by the Research Centre for Eastern and North Eastern Regional Studies, Kolkata (Ceners-K) or the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) or any other speaker; they all used their own maps. I had downloaded and used the said “Microsoft” map of the Northeast region since it had a facility to zoom into each state of the region separately at a single click of the mouse. When shown as the map of the region in its entirety or the zoomed-in maps of the states other than Arunachal Pradesh, no disputed territory was shown — unfortunately the zoomed-in version of Arunachal Pradesh did have “disputed” printed on it, which was not intended to be used. While covering the Arunachal part of my presentation, both the computer operator and I noticed the error and immediately shut down the map.
The error is totally mine — it should not have happened and is regretted; all the more so since it has caused embarrassment to a number of agencies and individuals. The writer of the article has, therefore, drawn wrong conclusions in ascribing the error to the organisations conducting or supporting the seminar.
The writer has also acted in extremely bad taste in his caricaturing specific individuals in the article — this was not at all humorous, it was and is libellous.
I must also point out that the seminar conducted by Ceners-K and ICWA was acclaimed by a large number of people to be a correct and effective portrayal of the situation in the Northeast related to Indo-Myanmar relations and development of India’s Northeast.
Lt Gen J R Mukherjee, Kolkata
Sunanda K Datta Ray replies:
It’s very gallant of Gen Mukherjee to claim sole responsibility but it makes no difference which member of Ceners put up the map. It was on display from the start of the conference, long before Gen Mukherjee’s own presentation, and appeared to illustrate the overall theme. So far as the conference is concerned, even Gen Mukherjee can’t improve on the last paragraph of my column in paying tribute to the occasion and the need for it. As for what he calls my “libellous” comments, perhaps Indian brasshats and mandarins would be more effective if they were less self-important. The two speakers, Aloke Sen and Sanjay Pulipaka, were admirable in this respect.
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