BEWARE OF FOREIGNERS SPEAKING CHINESE

Interviewing Dr Subramanian Swamy is always great for the TRPS because you can count on him to say the unexpected, for this is one leader who doesn’t mince his words. And sure enough, in his first interview to ITV Network post the lockdown, Dr Swamy was critical of the way the Rs 20 lakh crore Covid economic package was structured and commented wryly, “You need a

Finance Minister who is politically strong, who knows macroeconomics. Economy is an integrated macro framework.” Apart from the economy, his linguistic skills also make for great TV, because this is one leader from the South who is very comfortable giving interviews in Hindi as well (Ram Madhav is another), and is always ready to give interviews in Tamil too. But given the focus on China during the current crisis, he also offered a few lines in Mandarin. Translating what he said, was “Do not be afraid of the

Gods, do not be afraid of the Devil. But do be afraid of the foreigner who speaks Chinese...” Laughing, he adds, “It is such a difficult language so whoever learns it must have some ulterior motive”. Well, in this case, he is the foreigner speaking fluent Chinese, so one wonders what his motive is!