I'm assuming the person who made the comment is not from India in which case it truly is a sly remark. If my assumption is wrong, feel free to discard my original comment.

This is my stance on these things:

- If the discussion is regarding topic A about a country X, pointing out an unrelated shortcoming when you're not from country X makes you sound like a douche.

- If the discussion is about that shortcoming itself, it's open-season for discussion regardless of where you're from.

- If the discussion is about country X, you are from country X, and feel that something else about the state of your country should be brought into discussion, it's valid.

Again, this is just my stance.