At the outset, I wish to congratulate you for completing 23 years as a magazine (The Turnquotes, Nov 12). I am one of the first readers of this weekly started by Vinod Mehta. I’d like to say that the successive editors of the magazine have maintained that spirit of healthy discussion integral to its ethos since its inception in 1995.
H.C. Pandey, Delhi
This comes from a subscriber since 1995. I received my copy of your anniversary issue with some dread, as I feared it would be devoid of all my favourite features. My fears turned true—in this issue, my most sought after “ letters to the editor” page was missing. Its absence really made me lose heart and I just stuffed the unread Outlook back into its covering and dumped it with the heap of my old newspapers. The next day, I handed that pile to the ‘kabadi’ wala. When he saw a brand new magazine in the pile, he returned it to me. Better sense prevailed and I took it back. I then started rummaging through the pages with relative calm. To my surprise, after a lot of not-so-interesting material, I got engrossed in U-turns ahead, the item on public figures contradicting themselves at different points in time. But, all the same, please don’t let me miss my favourite ‘letters to editor’ page again. The views of Outlook readers are very interesting.
Lal Singh, Amritsar
Twenty three years of togetherness—from Vinod Mehta to Ruben Banerjee, via Krishna Prasad and Rajesh Ramachandran. Twenty three years of reading, appreciating & criticising. But, no letters! Not done.
Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun
Politicians of today are born with forked tongues, or, at any rate, it becomes an acquired feature. They will say anything at a given point in time to drive home a point to either hoodwink people or save their skin. And then come the U-turns later, unabashed utterances. They are always in search of a fertile political ground and will never feel shy of jumping the wagon at the throw of the hat, and joining another party. A politician, who is not loyal to a single political party during his lifetime cannot be loyal to another political party. Politicians speak one way when they are in opposition and the other way when they are in power. Politicians and their words are never to be believed. Thus politicians should never be taken seriously whenever and wherever they speak. The public has to just see through their words and concentrate on the inference of their intentions in order to judge them. This is the tragedy with our politicians, and it is unfortunate that their tribe is increasing in number and they are flourishing too in politics, with none a failure or dropout.
M.Y. Shariff, Chennai
Your anniversary special, U Turns Ahead, was indeed remarkable. The way some public figures contradicted statements they made in the past was hilarious. It made my Diwali. What a topic for an anniversary issue!
Kamal Anil Kapadia, Mumbai
Let’s hope the ‘turnquotes’ in power fail at their attempt to turn the country’s justice courts.
Anil S., Pune
This refers to No Laughing On Bank Street (Nov 19). Ever since former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan left the office on not so good terms, tensions between the apex bank and the government has been growing. On some issue or the other, the government has locked horns with RBI, including the demonetisation move, the treatment of interest rates and the Nirav Modi scam. The government should know well that the powers of a few institutions are sacrosanct and should not be interfered with. The government should focus only on areas where it has direct control, including areas of economy. Institutions like the CBI and the RBI should be kept completely autonomous.
Bal Govind, Noida
Refer to T20 In Tamil Nadu (Nov 19). The AIADMK government, headed by Edappadi Palaniswamy in Tamil Nadu, was upbeat after the court upheld the order of the TN speaker disqualifying the 18 legislators owing allegiance to rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran. However, the issue is not completely over. The government is under pressure after the Dinakaran’s AMMK decided not to appeal but contest elections to prove that the AMMK is the real heir to Jayalalitha’s political legacy. The bypolls for 20 seats likely to be held soon are crucial for the AIADMK government as they are in a do-or-die situation even as the DMK tries to consolidate its position in the murky politics of the state which has undergone a sea-change after the demise of two powerful leaders within a span of two years.
K.R. Srinivasan, Secunderabad
This refers to An Alliance With We The People (Nov 12). I don’t agree with the author’s contention that India was saved by its illiteracy. In 1977 it was literacy as well as illiteracy that saved India from an authoritarian regime. The electorate as a whole has time and again proved its superior judgement, and shocked the politicians and poll pundits. The author also says that opposition alliances emerged then with an exclusively negative purpose. That aptly applies to the proposed cocktail ‘grand alliance’ of anti-BJP parties, which have the sole agenda of Modi-hatao. The history of alliance governments in India tells us that only those led by either of the two main national parties could complete their term. Therefore the only possibility for a stable non-BJP government in 2019 is a Congress-led alliance government, but that has its own problem: there are so many prime ministerial aspirants in the Opposition camp who are not interested in a pre-poll alliance under the leadership of the Congress, which won only 44 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress thus has the uphill task of coming out as the single largest party in the 2019 polls to claim the leadership of the Opposition and the prime ministerial job.
Diverting from the subject, my thanks for the recognition bestowed in Dear Editor, You Got Mail (Nov 12).
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
Refer to An Alliance With We the People (Nov 12). It is true that India’s literate middle-class was once the nation’s buffer, but these conscience-keepers have developed political illiteracy; hypocrisy and snobbery have blinded them. They are bound to decline and become a weak, poor class, devoid of any energy to resist the tyranny of the authoritarian state and the rich. And alliances of the Opposition with the simple aim of ousting the BJP, merely by beating the drums of allegations of corruption, casteism and communalism etc—which are in truth applicable to all parties and leaders—without any positive programme for the socioeconomic amelioration of the masses, are bound to flop. Leaders in opposition parties must shun personal short-sighted egos and selfish motives to save democracy.
M.N. Bhartiya, Goa
In Misogyny in Malayalam (Nov 5), a woman is quoted as saying, “The strict dress code suggests that woman should doubly cover herself so as not to seduce the males.” What perverse logic! If God has created women in that manner, is it their fault if men are seduced merely by looking at them? If so, why did God create men with such dirty minds? As for the ban on women between the ages of 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala temple, if menstruation induces impurity, then why do men marry women? And how were so-called gods like Rama and Krishna born, if not from the wombs of women in the supposedly impure age group? Then what is the meaning of calling temples built to such gods holy places? It’s beyond comprehension the extent of stupidity people can go to by arguing for the ban to stay.
G.L. Karkal, Pune
The stark truth that the CBI experienced through the years has been aptly revealed in Neeraj Kumar’s column An Agency Imperilled (Nov 5). A covert tug of war among top officials is not an exceptional phenomenon that exists only in the CBI, but in most government departments. But the way it exploded in the CBI, after being torpedoed by some vested interests, is certainly a matter of grave concern. It could be part of a bigger conspiracy. Officials acting in close connivance with political heavyweights as sleuths, such elements have the potential to cause cascading effects in other departments too. Bureaucrats have been reduced to pawns playing into the hands of powerhouses comprising politicians, lobbyists and a whole range of middlemen. And what of the public’s trust in these agencies, which has been harmed greatly by the episode at hand?
Jaideep Mittra, Varanasi
This refers to your story Life on Rent (Nov 5). Due to the constantly changing socio-economic dynamics of the 21st century, renting out anything and everything has become big business. This makes it possible for the impatient young generation to live life ‘king size’. But we should refrain from taking it too far—for example, to companionship—where it would be tantamount to ‘unethical business’.
Vijai Pant, On E-Mail
This refers to your story Imagine There is No Migrant (October 29). In 2013-14, a political party in Maharashtra had blamed migrants for the deteriorating crime situation in Mumbai and Thane. This should not happen.
Kamal Anil Kapadia, Mumbai
Ramesh Dalal, former parliamentarian and Congress leader, has been inadvertently referred to as an “associate” of godman Chandraswami in the story titled ‘Sleuth Speed In Slow Lane’ published on November 12 in Outlook. We apologise for the error.
