This is in response to Outlook’s story on the tumult the BCCI is going through, especially after the resignation of its president, Shashank Manohar (Lords Over Gentlemen, May 23). Just as an abundance of salt or sugar makes food inedible, corrupted chefs of the game—with their injection of a surfeit of money—have made cricket distasteful. While the wings of such officials have to be clipped, the money that’s still pouring in can surely be parcelled out for worthwhile causes. Instead of hoarding its riches, a cash-rich BCCI can also help other cash-strapped sports and even contract its elite players. Saina Nehwal on BCCI payroll—now, how palatable that sounds!
Sanjiv Gupta, Perth
Ever since the white flannels and shirts of the gentleman’s game took on the lurid hues of those fancy pajamas, the BCCI started adding colours to its B&W canvas. Now we wait for the young BJP dynast from Himachal, Anurag Thakur, to show his.
Rajneesh Batra, Delhi
If one is connected to the public, there happens to be a sanctity to that function. Conversely, India’s higher courts have certainly over-extended themselves. Is it their job to give a ruling on IPL matches being played in a state, on women entering temples, banning jallikattu, direct governments to give licences to dance bars, stay disciplinary action in universities, or direct governments to implement food security. If they want to govern, the courts—the honourable judges—should fight elections! They have not been given a mandate to do any of the above.
Novonil Guha, Delhi
Put politicians in charge, add some celebrities and miscellaneous rich people, and you have a nice brew that is the BCCI. I wonder why people watch cricket at all these days, given the scandals, infighting and the depressing rumours of spot-fixing that swirl around all the time.
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
The box on Shashank Manohar (An Honourable Man Who Had To Avoid The Tin Drum) was revelatory. He seems to be the right man on the wrong side, a square peg in a round hole. I wish him the best in his future endeavours.
N. Ramamurthy, Chennai
Fali S. Nariman (‘I don’t like one-party rule...’, May 23) speaks of a healthy opposition as a must for democracy in India. But consider what Rahul Gandhi has to offer. He has turned himself into something of a political joke with his illogical public statements; the sooner he realises that attacking Modi without any logic will pay him no dividends and starts offering practical solutions the better.
Mahesh Kumar, Delhi
Fali S. Nariman’s sane voice brought to mind an old and famous Abu cartoon—the one in which President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed leans over from his bathtub to sign the proclamation of Emergency, held across the bathroom door to him. Things have not changed a bit, even 40 years after the lesson of the Emergency. Those who cried themselves hoarse over autocratic ways while in the opposition are now doing the same thing while in power. President’s rule is being imposed with impunity. Yes, the more noise there is in a democracy the better.
V.N.K. Murti, Pattambi
In your interview, Nariman provides a balanced, erudite assessment of the benefits of democracy. Indian democracy sees communal, casteist and sectarian feelings expressed in loud declarations, cast in phraseology often reeking of political vendetta. Of course, a democracy thrives in the noise of multiple groups, but we need to curb venomous speech. This can happen only when politics sheds obscurantist allegiances to caste and religion.
M.K. Somanatha Panicker, Cherthala
With all due regard to the erudite Mr Nariman, I’d like to submit that democracy is in fact about one-party rule. I think that in a democracy, a single party should get a majority and form a government so that it is free to implement its agenda and be judged for succeeding or failing. As for noise, it should be the salt in the curry.
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
Nariman remains a powerful voice of reason, supporting an independent judiciary, press freedom and protection of minorities. His warning against majoritarianism strikes just the right note at the right time.
Anwaar, Dallas
If only Trudeau’s courage in the Komagata Maru incident could be seen in our own leaders.
L.J.S. Panesar, Amritsar
Justice P.B. Sawant (Slip through the Loopholes, May 23) is right: our anti-defection laws must be replaced because politicians have made a mockery of them. When people elect legislators, they mostly do so for the political banner they fly under. They cannot move to another party without betraying that mandate. Except the rare change of faith that may be genuine, it’s anti-democratic.
Lt Col Ranjit Sinha, Delhi
Our anti-defection laws need to be reviewed regularly and updated comprehensively. It doesn’t take much intelligence to understand that its corruption and power-mongering that motivate legislators to switch sides.
Padmini Raghavendra, Secunderabad
Keralites, or ‘Somalayalis’, are politically conscious, well-informed and passionately participate in the democratic process. On social indices—education, lifespan, vaccination, or any such—Kerala outranks other states, including Gujarat, of which Modi was the much-ballyhooed CM till the other day. And he wants to hold up Gujarat as a shining example for the rest of India! Let the truth set us free, as our ancients said, Mr Modi.
T. Nayak, Washington
Your story on the AgustaWestland probe (Mothballed in a Shady Hangar, May 23) makes me wonder: what triggered this sudden interest in the chopper deal? It seems to have been shaken out of hibernation with the agencies clocking unprecedented speed in the probe despite coming a cropper in terms of finding convincing leads. It is increasingly evident that the procurement was a political decision, made sometime in 2010. (The air force, interestingly, only gives its opinion in such matters and is not the contract-finalising authority.) To prevent such scams in the future, this one must be thoroughly probed and the culprits punished without delay.
Lt Col Ranjit Sinha, Delhi
Bofors was a top-class artillery system that lay mothballed until Kargil happened and its capabilities were put on combat display. Three AgustaWestland helicopters, another top-class aircraft system worth $50 million, lie mothballed at Palam technical area. So far, they are the only victims of the scam. Your last lines suggest to me that a bit of quid pro quo is not to be quibbled about if the equipment being talked about is top class. Seriously?
S.K. Garg, On E-Mail
The Italian court has already done its bit and has pointed fingers at the scamsters in India. Just compare the progress of our probe with that in Italy and you will know that we have no intention to punish the big fish. Why not arrest Sonia—especially in these times when the Centre doesn’t hesitate to send the CBI to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s office and Delhi police arrests AAP MLAs without batting an eyelid, forcing the court to warn against arresting people on trumped-up cases? They will never arrest Sonia and other biggies because eventually all scams, properly probed, would lead to the big business houses that finance both the Congress and the BJP. The same is the fate of Bofors and other big scams and this government cannot be expected to act any differently from its predecessor on these matters.
Himanshu, New Jersey
Apropos Uttam Sengupta’s It’s Clear As Fog (May 9), the desperation to prove that Sonia Gandhi is not involved in the AgustaWestland scam shines through, ipiece, but what I found really amusing was the line of defence, ‘If only 45 cr had reached India, given the many deal-makers, how much of it (one wonders) would have reached Sonia’. Yes, given the sheer volume of corruption charges labelled against the Congress, a pittance like Rs 45 crore is truly too trivial to warrant a proper scrutiny. The idea seems to be that corruption is not corruption unless some mind-boggling sum can be fetched to give it a sense of urgency. An equally bad argument is that Sonia would not accept a bribe simply because she would have learnt her lesson from the Bofors episode. Is truth really amenable to the beliefs of journalists? If that is the kind of theory that currently reigns, then I believe I am better off without Outlook.
Nirupam Hazra, Shantiniketan
Nikhil Kumar’s London Diary would not have made sense to a lot of readers. The Independent, the Indy, the I—call it whatever, but it has very little relevance to Indians. Nor do ‘Glitterbirds’—those shiny golden and silver limos Arabs like to flaunt when in London—or the elephants that the monarchs of England may or may not have ridden!
Bubly, On E-Mail
This refers to your story on Subramanian Swamy (Swamy and Frenemies, May 16). The RSS-controlled BJP has appointed different persons to do different jobs. Smriti Irani has to saffronise education and loose cannons like Pravin Togadia, Yogi Adityanath, Sakshi Maharaj, Giriraj Singh and Sangeet Som have to target, humiliate and offend Muslims, push Hindutva down the throats of the youth and instigate the masses of Hindus against the minorities. Swamy has been airdropped as a Rajya Sabha member and given the task of being the BJP’s missile man to target top Congress leaders in Parliament. While Rajiv Gandhi had V.P. Singh to haul him over the coals on the Bofors issue, Sonia has Swamy to corner her. But, if Swamy does really have clinching evidence for a prima facie case against Sonia, what prevents him from bringing it to light instead of making fleeting allegations?
M.Y. Shariff, Chennai
Your item in Seven Days (May 23) on Rocky Yadav, The Hair-trigger of Power-Rage was right in not turning the murder of the 19-year-old Aditya Sachdeva into a story of road rage. What killed Aditya was Rocky’s lethal sense of entitlement—arrogance combined with aggression, making a volatile cocktail—in the feudal society that is much of India.
K.S. Padmanabha, Secunderabad
Apropos the item One Q&A Tests All in Seven Days (May 23) I want to point out that, contrary to what you suggest, NEET is more likely to set better standards than the tests administered by the states and individual medical colleges. The national test was introduced to curb the menace of the ‘admission industry’, among other reasons, and it does reduce the scope for profiteering and is undoubtedly convenient for students. And the Supreme Court is right in reviewing its own judgement scrapping NEET. Among those most opposed to NEET are the minority institutions, whose admission norms add another layer of opacity to the process, with quotas for management-sponsored candidates chosen on the basis of their religious background. Christian Medical College, Vellore, admits nearly 85 per cent of its students through community- and church-sponsored networks. No wonder non-minority institutions complain they have to abide by government rules while the minority ones are a law unto themselves.
K.S. Jayatheertha, Bangalore
The well dug by Bapurao Tajne (Leader, May 24) obviously has parallels with that immortal symbol of love, the Taj Mahal. In fact, this well should be considered a lot more remarkable because while the Taj was constructed by an emperor of endless means, this was dug out by a man under siege from a variety of adversities. This Dalit man has shown a kind of resilience that should be celebrated now that it is there, but with the aim that we create a society where it is never needed again.
Arshid Wani, Pulwama
London Rising High (May 16) reminds us that it’s quite an achievement for someone of Sadiq Khan’s background to be elected the mayor of London. Let’s now hope that he delivers on his promises. On a related note, it is always interesting to see the spats of sensible politicians with Trump. The little details add to my respect for Khan.
Bharat Vaswani, London
Sadiq Khan’s election as the mayor of London shows how crowded the once-glorious city has become with people of Pakistani origin. And while it is reassuring to see the son of a struggling immigrant become the mayor of one of the global centres of wealth and power, I hope one day we will also see the Pakistani community become mature enough to celebrate the victory of non-Muslim leaders in some of their own cities.
K.N. Muralidharan, Wales
