Popular weekly magazine, Outlook India, launched an all-out attack on US with its latest edition by brandishing President Barack Obama on its cover as "The Underachiever".
The magazine's point-blank move comes on the wake of Time magazine's recent wisecrack at Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was labeled with the same tag a week earlier.
"America needed a reboot-he promised hope and change. Four years on, President Barack Obama's sheen is gone. Can his lofty rhetoric carry him home again?" Outlook's cover page read.
The forthcoming issue, which will hit the stores on July 30, is likely to pull a Time's stunt on the Indian Prime Minister by furnishing a critical assessment of the Obama administration. Outlook's latest move, which appeared as a retaliation to Time magazine's hard-hitting comments on the PM, came close on the heels of Obama's disparaging statements over the deteriorating investment climate in India, criticizing the nation for restricting foreign investments in Indian sectors.
In its July 16 Asia edition, Time magazine took a potshot at the Indian government with its cover photo featuring an image of Manmohan Singh stamped with a caption that read: "The Underachiever - India needs a reboot". Besides questioning the PM's inability to push forward major economical reforms, the international weekly also came down heavily on the UPA-II government for failing to act in time amidst the economic slowdown in the country.
"In the past three years, the calm confidence he (Singh) once radiated has been absent. He seems unable to control his ministers and his new, temporary portfolio at the Finance Ministry notwithstanding unwilling to stick his neck out on reforms that will continue the process of liberalisation he helped start," Time observed in its article titled "A Man in Shadow".
The magazine's piece on the Indian government raised a national furor with the government allies and big corporate guns swiftly coming to the government's defense. On the other hand, the article reflected the views of opposition parties and other top industrialists who hold the PM accountable for the nation's current economic woes.
Recently, Tata Group honcho Ratan Tata lashed out at the erroneous statements that blamed Manmohan Singh for the slow growth path. "Attacks on the architect of 1991 reforms which brought us prosperity are sad and unfortunate. It's wrong to single out the PM for inflation, low investment confidence and slow growth," Tata said on social networking site twitter.
