Saba Naqvi rightly infers the anti-reservation strains in the massive anti-Patidar agitation (Q is for Quotas..., Sep 14). But she is wrong when she tends to surmise that such a spontaneous, youthful gathering can be engineered by any political outfit inimical to reservation.
Shruti Anuraj, Nagpur
First and foremost, I condemn the coverage given to a minnow like Hardik Patel. His immature replies in the interview you have published expose his muddled head.
M. Rama Krishna, Kakinada
Saba Naqvi points towards RSS & co behind the Patidar agitation, overlooking the fact that the first politician to support them was Nitish Kumar. Weird politics or what!
Krishna Kumar Saboo, on e-mail
Backwardness in India is a sad but stark reality. A majority of the people in India are illiterate; a recent survey showed how a large number of students in the most literate state of Kerala do not how to write the alphabet whether in their mother-tongue or in English. Economic disparities too have increased, while caste politics perpetuates social backwardness. The situation will only get worse. The obscurantist views of certain people and the communal alliances they have forged will vitiate things endlessly. There seems very little chance for India to redeem itself from the grip of casteist and communalist tentacles. We can expect similar movements and protests in different states organised by different groups of people.
M.K. Somanatha Panicker, Alappuzha
The discord on the reservation issue is because the people who are supposed to get reservation are accommodated by increasing the overall percentage of reservation. Why haven’t the bjp and Congress ever implemented reservations in spirit when they allot seats in elections? Laoo Yadav and Mayawati wouldn’t have been rivals to the bjp and Congress then.
Aditya Mookerjee, Belgaum
It is shocking to see Outlook featuring Hardik Patel on the cover with a sword in his hand! It’s precisely because of this kind of publicity that anarchist elements like him thrive.
Pramod Srivastava, New Delhi
