Please accept our congratulations on a brilliant piece of incisive journalism! The cover story (If the Soot Don’t Wash, Sep 10) laid bare the hypocrisy of the BJP. Speaking of which, perhaps your cover should have had the evil visages of L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley rather than that of our saintly PM, Pujyasri Manmohan Singh?
K. Nagarajan, Chennai
The Congress seems to go by the Hindi adage, haathi ke daant dikhane ke aur or khaane ke aur hote hain: it has an honest prime minister as a front, while the bulk of those who actually run his government are anything but honest. And no one is blacker than the other, the political class as a whole has failed the nation and its people.
D.L. Narayan, Visakhapatnam
This soot is unlikely to wash that easily. When it began to unravel, Coalgate appeared to be just another scam. But willy-nilly, even the sarkar-friendly channels were forced to bring out the sordid details of the backdoor manipulations by the big and small fry in the Congress. Had Manmohan Singh ordered the cancellation of the allocations or instituted an inquiry while desisting from calling the CAG names and restrained loose talk by UPA ministers, we could have applauded his openness in dealing with the crisis. However, retreating into his shell even as Sonia Gandhi urges cadres to be aggressive and the government tries to divide the opposition has worsened the overall impression.
Dr V. Mahadevan, Chennai
As Shakespeare’s noble words went in Julius Caesar, “But for supporting robbers, shall we now//Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,//And sell the mighty space of our large honours//For so much trash as may be grasped thus?//I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon//Than be such a Roman.”
Sumiti Singaravel, Salem, TN
By holding Parliament to ransom and not letting MPs finish urgent legislative work, the main Opposition party too is increasingly isolating itself and stretching the goodwill of even its well-wishers.
Meghana A., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
It appears the CAG has settled for some great post-retirement bonding with the BJP. Why else has he chosen only the period from 2004 to 2012 to perform an audit of coal allocation? Why not from 1996 to 2004? The BJP and the Congress have adopted the same policy. The CAG has done a great wrong to Parliament and the nation.
S. Nedunchezhian, Chennai
For the Opposition parties, the coal scam was an unexpected monsoon which they will ‘enjoy’ well until the next general elections.
Ramachandran Nair, Oman
Of what use is an honest man at the helm if he comes to preside over some of the most monstrous deeds of financial malfeasance?
Bahu Virupaksha, Pondicherry
By not allowing the prime minister to make a statement on the floor of the House, the Opposition has only denied itself an opportunity to know the government’s views.
K.R. Srinivasan, Secunderabad
If all this has happened under a supposedly honest man, I shudder to think what would have happened under someone who was actually corrupt.
Arun Sathaye, Indore
The CAG appears to have ganged up with the BJP and is looking for a Governor’s job after retirement. The BJP is an expert in buying and selling mlas and MPs.
Kel Shorey, Glasgow
