Key Points
One can view, from archives Indian and international Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai all the way up to A B Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh the most powerful leaders answering questions..
They subjected themselves to scrutiny by reporters with often combative but rarely disrespectful questions at press conferences and through interviews that went beyond mangoes, motherhood and apple pie...
Unfortunately, by attacking a journalist for asking a perfectly legitimate question doing his job at a press conference, Rahul Gandhi has indicated that the desire for a pliant and pliable Fourth Estate runs across party lines...
For the health of a democracy, the press cannot be part of the power structure its job is to ask questions that can often make those on the pulpit and the stage uncomfortable..
Even those deft at using the ruling partys blunt instrument against detractors, within and outside the press, have celebrated the need for leaders to answer questions they may not like...
