Why is Albert Pinto Always Angry?

During my teaching days in JNU two decades ago I often used to refer to Bollywood movies to explain a political or International Relations (IR) point to my students. Also, so many things used to shake my common sense that I often found myself in the shoes of the protagonist in the Naseeruddin Shah starrer Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai (1980).

Albert Pinto was irritated by many things going wrong around him.

It was common those days to suggest that India had emerged as a great power, if not a superpower, though many basic amenities of life were still unavailable to most Indians. My simple advice to my students was that let them drive 20 kilometres in Delhi from any point to another and if all the traffic lights worked all right during the drive I would concede: Yes, India has become a great power.

To make my point intellectually acceptable I showed them a comparative chart of India and China. Barring their population, China was ahead of India on all counts -- GDP, per capita income, defence expenditure, steel and cement production, availability of hospital beds, etc. The current situation is more lopsided.

In India-China trade China has a $112 billion surplus (131b vs 19b).  But to Albert Pinto’s shock India calls itself the Vishwaguru (leader of the world).

Recently a full-page government advertisement claimed that ‘Digital India’ had changed the overall landscape of India as if it is a unique feat.

On a slightly different plane, thirty years ago when Indians had to carry a pocketful of Indian coins to make an STD or an ISD call, Bangladesh had mastered that facility rather cheaply through their ‘appropriate technology’.

In every nook and cranny of Dhaka and other cities young Bangladeshis were available with their (pre-smart) mobile phones to connect people across the country on small payments.

So far as digital payments are concerned China reached India’s present status many years ago. India should not dish out false greatness by saying that it is soon going to become the world’s fourth largest economy by replacing Japan.  Anyone can visit Japan to see the situation for himself.

There are three kinds of lies as they say: Lies, Damned lies, and Statistics. Let not Indians be fooled by mere GDP figures; per-capita income figures are much more critical.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasts about India’s age-old philosophy of Vasudaiva Kudumbakam (all world is a family). But not a fortnight passes without him or his Home Minister Amit Shah talking about the Bangladeshi ghuspaithiyas (illegal settlers) who are as if on a mission to convert India into a Muslim-majority country.

Incidentally, the per capita income of Bangladesh is $2,911 compared to India’s $2,813.

Suddenly India’s External Affairs Ministry comes out with the novel theory that the Indian passport is not a certificate of citizenship. I checked my first passport issued on December 20, 1974, more than seven years after The Passports Act was enforced on June 24, 1967.

In bold font it declared: National Status: CITIZEN OF INDIA. My latest passport effective from October 16, 2025, also did so: Nationality: INDIAN.

The Delhi-Dehradun expressway which was inaugurated less than three months ago with much fanfare has already developed big potholes. But for the volunteering by some good Samaritans several accidents would have occurred. The same is the story about the multi-crore Mumbai-Pune expressway project.

Moreover, let it be underlined that highways do not necessarily certify greatness. Almost a century ago Adolf Hitler of Germany was the first to introduce the autobahns and where he ultimately landed his country is for all to recall.

With effect from April 1, 2026 the Indian government has summarily introduced gasoline with 20% ethanol content. Reportedly they are harming the car engines besides impacting the mileage. The Indian government claims that they are ‘experimenting’ with the scheme. Experiment is always done on a sample not on the whole universe of users. Doesn’t Albert Pinto have a point?

India’s relationship with the United States has reached a complex bind. Ever since the rise of Modi in India and Donald Trump in the United States there has been an unfathomable bonhomie between the two leaders. But while Modi presents himself as a supplicant to the mercurial Trump the latter projects himself as the big brother who takes the liberty of calling Modi ‘beautiful’ ‘father like’ etc yet does not mind slighting him in the diplomatic and economic realms.

Trumpeting India’s greatness from the home turf or with the help of cheerleaders on the foreign soils is mere hot air vis-a-vis dealing with the United States as sovereign equals. Is it not humiliating for Indians that their Prime Minister should address President Trump with the honorific: ‘Excellency’? During their meeting at the G-7 Summit Modi said so more than once.

Everyone knows that to understand the legal nitty gritty is not everybody’s cup of tea. But everybody at least is entitled to one's common sense.

How can the same Delhi High Court grant bail to Khurram Parvez on the ground that his case is pending for four years without trial could deny bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam who too have been languishing in jail for more than five years without facing any chargesheet. Doesn’t Albert Pinto have reasons to be angry?

This essay cannot end without referring to the Ram Temple scandal. In the name of this Temple in Ayodhya Modi has built his massive support base over the years. But when the scandal surfaced as a political earthquake involving a multi-crore embezzlement of devotees’ donations he hid behind the veil of silence. There should be a limit to one’s politics of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

But in this context Albert Pinto has reasons to be angry with the Modi-baiters as well, particularly Congress. Given the decline of India’s governing institutions of late Congress should not have waited for some serendipity to galvanize it. It should have raised some basic bookkeeping and accountancy issues from the time it had become clear that the Ram Temple would become a milch cow.

The only person in the opposition who raised the question from the beginning was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP, Sanjay Singh.

Partha Ghosh retired as professor at JNU.