Congratulations for publishing Balbir Punj’s well-balanced rejoinder, Fiddling With Facts as Gujarat Burns (May 27). His revelations were outstanding and ably exposed the fiction of Arundhati Roy.
Umesh K., Kochi
Like any other committed partisan, Punj too has flagrantly vilified Roy for conjuring up stories and making pronouncements that could possibly exacerbate the violence in Gujarat. His rejoinder was rich in detail but lacking in conviction. His rather loose statement about discerning "a sickly ghoulish mind" was aimed more at Roy than at her writing.
Kanishka Gupta, on e-mail
After a long time I read an honest article. Why do the real intellectuals allow the pseudo-Arundhatis to grow bold and damage the image of secular forces like the bjp? The party has a very poor propaganda machine which the phony secularists thrive on. For them, bjp-bashing is showing the world their secularism. Time the bjp advertised itself seriously.
Rajiv Banerjee, on e-mail
The idea of publishing two sides of an argument is to give the reader an informed view, but Punj’s blatant attempt to settle personal/trivial scores was nothing but a sham.
Anil de Costa, Bangalore
The writing on the wall has been around for a very long time now, and clear for all to see. The minorities are faced with two choices, both equally stark: either embrace Hinduism or leave the country at the earliest. There is little point in riding the hobby horse of morality and wasting energy comparing Hindutva to Nazism.
Ranjith Thomas, Bangalore
The Sangh parivar is a nasty piece of work which has scheming politicians claiming to represent the interests of the Hindus and wolves in sheep’s clothing a la Atal Behari Vajpayee. They should be seen for what they are and how similar they are to Hitler in thought and deed.
T.R. Harikumar, Coventry, UK
So Punj wants the truth? So do we. For a start, why doesn’t he go to the refugee camps and talk to the people there?
Rashida Jafri, Sharjah, uae
Indeed, Roy must apologise not just to the Jaffri family but to the entire country. She may use human error as the excuse as do other neo-secular journalists. But the damage she has caused to the image of Gujarat is irreparable. In this context, I commend Punj’s rejoinder. Given the situation in Gujarat, the least mature citizens can do is not fan the fire.
B.N. Gangadhar, Bangalore
Punj seems to have missed the whole point of Roy’s article. A wrong remains a wrong whether one attenuates its degree or not. What has happened in Gujarat remains unpardonable. India is secular because the Hindu, at heart, is tolerant. The Sangh must not be under the misconception that its thugs enjoy popular support for what they did.
Saptarshi Basu, Kharagpur
Punj believes there are no truths the public can’t be distracted from, provided you put the right spin on them. He picks on the "fiction" in one sentence in Roy’s article to obfuscate the many other truths that follow. Like the fact that a mob stripped and brutalised Ehsan Jaffri, chopped off his hands and feet, then dismembered and burned him. His three brothers and two nephews too were killed that day. And the 10 women raped in that same incident may not have been Jaffri’s daughters but surely must have been someone else’s daughters, sisters, wives or mothers. Even within the putrefaction of morals currently represented by his party, it’s disgusting to see this bjp MP using the survival of Jaffri’s daughters to obscure the fact of the terrible death of Jaffri.
Sanjay Kak, New Delhi
The bjp and its Hindutva gang are a class of people who sharpen their political swords with lies and deceit. What kind of a man must Punj be that he can ignore the rape, massacre and plunder of innocents and instead take refuge in one mistake Roy’s made, and apologised for.
Parthasarathy B., Chennai
It’s clear now. People like Roy seem to thrive on controversies and create some where there are none.
S. D’Cruz, Gujarat
A pathetic effort at controlling the damage Punj’s party has suffered. Roy was courageous enough to admit her error but all Punj is trying to do is whitewash the sins of his party.
S. Goyal, New York
Roy’s letter seems more like a rationalisation of her error than an apology. The Goddess of Small Things should really stick to fiction-writing rather than distorting factual details and charging up an already fuming people.
Arundhati Shastri, on e-mail
It does not make any difference to me if out of the 10 women raped, two were not Jaffri’s daughters. Punj should stop condemning Roy; he’s the one fiddling with reality.
Saju A. Joseph, Bangalore
Punj may try to play down the inhuman cruelties of the parivar activists by clinging to just one factual error Roy makes. Using this as an alibi, he demonises the English media and other writers of her ilk. Let me assure him though—he isn’t fooling anyone.
Firos B.F. Edava, Chennai
Punj’s seems a last-ditch effort to save the face of the Sangh parivar. He’s desperately trying to cover up their barbarism by blaming Roy and the media. Are we to assume that reports by independent commissions are aimed at sullying India’s name? He should understand that his efforts to give the saffron brigade a ‘clean cheat’ only incriminates it further.
Shabin Noor, on e-mail
I’m an Indian Gujarati Muslim living in Chicago. I think Punj does a terrific job of defending his party by stifling the voice of genuine criticism, ignoring eyewitness accounts or the Human Rights Watch report on Gujarat. As for the ultimate weapon he uses—"Whom does it help? Not the riot victims, only our enemies across the border"—most educated people in India don’t buy that.
Tariq, on e-mail
Punj’s rejoinder is nothing but an unsubstantiated and self-absolving review of Roy’s soul-stirring piece. It lacks passionate argument as well as true facts and findings.
R. George Edward, on e-mail
Does Punj still believe everyone else is telling a lie and he and the likes of Modi are the only ones telling the truth? Yes, the Ram sevaks too were innocent but what about the Ravan sevaks who are hell-bent on destroying the very secular fabric of India?
Hamid, New York
Punj’s reasons for upbraiding the press and Roy run hollow in the face of the atrocities committed in Gujarat. In several ads released by the Gujarat government, the headline runs: "Enough is enough, don’t rub salt into wounds." Isn’t it clear that the wounds have been inflicted by the parivar’s extremist elements gone out of control. If this isn’t admission of the Modi government’s guilt, what is?
John Matthew, Navi Mumbai
Punj’s rejoinder holds no credence whatsoever. His is a far more vicious and lumpenistic piece of work than Roy’s ever capable of writing. And then you have one Tandon wailing from the pmo that Vajpayee is being unfairly accused, as if that is a greater crime than Gujarat burning.
Saraswati Krishna, on e-mail
Why is Punj making such a big deal of one factual mistake in Roy’s article? Is the burning of Jaffri’s brothers and nephews (the fact) any less brutal than stripping and burning his daughters (the misinformation)? Seems like he’s really running short of evidence to support his claim for "hundreds of media lies". The only other lies he’s pointed out is the report of the splitting of a women’s abdomen in Roy’s piece and the ToI report on Modi’s action/reaction theory and there is no support to his claim for the former.
Perwez Shahbuddin, on e-mail
Roy has done the right thing by apologising to the Jaffri family for her error. However, a retraction, contradiction or modification of a wrong statement rarely reaches the great majority of people who saw or read the original. Whether it’s of a terrified Qutubuddin appealing for help, or a disillusioned Harsh Mander quitting his job or of Jaffri’s daughters being brutally killed, comparatively few would have read the sequels—of Qutubuddin being alive and well, of Mander having joined an ngo or of Jaffri’s daughters not being in India at all. They’d remember only the original story. Roy’s excuse is that her information was "cross-checked" with a Time article and a "report" by two retired government officials. She should know that officials are not oracles and what scribes write is not scripture.
S. Venkatesan, Mumbai
Congratulations to Roy for the paradigm that factual errors don’t affect the substance of secular generalisations.
Nishi Pulugurtha, on e-mail
I’m from Hans Christian Andersen land, Odense, in Denmark. Arundhati’s article reminded me of a story about our first king Gorm den Gamle. His son Canut and his brother were Vikings and went for a raid to England. Before they left, the king had a dream in which he saw two ravens: one hurt, the other dead. Thereupon, the king declared death on the messenger who brought news of his son’s death. But the clever queen, when she got the message, ordered black curtains to be hung around the palace. The king got the message but had no one to blame. As an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, I consider your huge country and its culture with great respect. I’d urge you to keep it that way!
H.C. Nielsen, Denmark
I salute Roy for having the courage to admit that she made a mistake whereas the Sangh parivar is still insisting that "violence was controlled in 72 hours". In times like these when hate-mongers are openly ruling the country, the role of honest and fearless humanists like Roy has increased manifold.
Rajiv Shankar, New Jersey
A third-rate editor (Vinod Mehta) supporting a third-rate (Arundhati Roy) columnist.
Saswata Maullik, on e-mail
While not wanting to comment on the merit or otherwise of the possible contestants you mention in the story Race Day: Summer Travails (May 27), I was disappointed to find the name of Bharat Ratna A.P.J. Abdul Kalam conspicuous by its absence, particularly since his name is being sponsored by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Not only is he a brilliant scientist and father of India’s missile programme but he is also physically fit and youthful compared to the other octogenarians in the race. Most significantly, he is from the minority community most affected by the recent unsavoury incidents in Gujarat.
Malathi Shekhar, on e-mail
The choice of P.C. Alexander as the government’s candidate is yet another ploy to rend India’s secular fabric. The fact that he belongs to a minority community is irrelevant given his capability of playing along with the saffron brigade-controlled nda government. It also forms part of the bjp gameplan to deny the post of vice-president to a Muslim, be it Najma Heptulla or Dr Farooq Abdullah.
M. Jameel Ahmed, Mysore
At 81 and in poor health, President K.R. Narayanan should be enjoying retired life in his native place, far from the madding crowd, in God’s Own Country. He should pave the way for someone younger to enjoy the loaves and fishes of the highest office of the land.
K.P. Rajan, Mumbai
I can’t understand why you should interview Imran Khan out of the blue ("Gujarat has shattered the myth of Indian secularism", May 27)? What is his standing in Pakistani politics and who is he to say anything on India’s internal matters? We all know that he launched a political party out of the money he collected in the name of building a hospital.
Dharmendra Malvi, on e-mail
Khan doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he says secularism in India is a myth. If it were, the communal trouble in Gujarat would have spread to other parts of the country.
Sanjay, Kharagpur
How can Khan even speak of secularism in India when the Muslims (Mohajirs) in Karachi are not treated as equals by their own countrymen. That, unfortunately, was a wide ball, Imran, please take your run-up again.
P.B., Sunnyvale, US
Apropos Massage in the Elevator (May 27), this was waiting to happen in India even as it goes on all the while in places like Bangkok. And it will only reach unmanageable proportions if not stopped with a firm hand quickly. It could also be the start of the underworld in Delhi which we have till now been relatively immune from. The modus operandi certainly has dangerous portents.
Mahender Kumar, Delhi
This is a rising phenomenon in our society. The pity is, even our school- and college-going girls are falling prey to this lure of easy money.
S. Lakshmi, on e-mail
Contrary to the views in your cover story Game of Patience (May 27), the limited war concept is the only means at India’s disposal to force a solution on Kashmir. The target for such a war should be PoK while other Pakistani territories should be left untouched. Such an action would undo the blatantly partisan enforcement of the UN resolutions on Kashmir. After all, if they had really willed, the then Security Council members could have forced Pakistan to vacate the occupied territories. That they chose not to do so only indicates their indulgence towards Pakistan at a juncture where a plebiscite was widely perceived as liable to go in India’s favour. Indeed, India could use this historic denial of justice—in which the West was instrumental—as a diplomatic argument to pre-empt international action against it.
Dr C. Pratap, Hyderabad
Musharraf leaves India for dead in the publicity stakes and the western press laps up every sneeze the suavely-dressed General produces. While he breathes fire and brimstone at international fora, all our political mandarins manage is burning the midnight oil to scour a UN-approved lexicon to prepare "fitting replies". India perhaps needs to paint graphically what a post-nuclear scenario does entail and propagate it. That may take the thunder out of Musharraf’s blasé bluster.
Dilip Mahanty, Sydney, Australia
If India does declare war and wins, will it sort out the India-Pakistan problem forever? I think not—very seldom do the vanquished make up or live in peace thereafter. Instead, it’s time our leaders adopted a statesman-like approach and pressed for a solution through dialogue. If India and Pakistan destroy each other, they’d have played into the hands of the colonial leaders who divided them in the first place. There is too much at stake for India to head for destruction. The leaders have a responsibility towards the country.
Koshy Varghese, Sultanate of Oman
Short-term wars in my opinion have two dimensions. One is hot pursuit as your story suggests, the other is to keep open a small area of the border while mounting pressure all along the border. We chose the second option in ’65 when we captured the whole Hazi Peer area. And remember Pakistan doesn’t have the resources to mount an offensive in Punjab or Rajasthan; Jammu alone remains our jugular since ’47.
Ram Lal Khanna, New Delhi
It fills me with outrage that our government has yet again failed to come up with a decisive plan of action as to whether we want to go to war or sit it out for some more time. All this calls for a self-introspection, to first question our leadership before talking of going to war.
Vaibhav Chauhan, New Delhi
In his first 16 wins against Mohammad Ghori, Prithviraj Chauhan let him go each time through a misplaced magnanimity. The latter, however, when he did win the 17th time, quickly killed his enemy. Likewise, after every attack by Pakistan, our honourable PM talks tough but does nothing. India ends up getting a bad press for verbal belligerence and Pakistan’s murderous terrorism continues unchecked. Let Vajpayee be warned, if Pakistani terror is allowed to go unchecked, it will end up destroying us.
Mukund Kher, Bloomington, Illinois
Pardon me, but the US talking of peace is a bit like a tiger advocating vegetarianism.
A. Srivenkataiah, Bangalore
You top-slot Kareena Kapoor, who hasn’t had a single major solo hit till date, and say Hrithik, Writ Off? (May 27). He’s had a much better going rate. Perhaps logic, fairness and the media just don’t go together! And to add insult to injury, you credit his good films to the director and his bad films to himself! The pen is mightier than the sword, and spare Hrithik.
Asmita Parekh, New Delhi
Comparing Hrithik Roshan to Kumar Gaurav is like comparing kaju to moongphali, and we all know what is better!
Natasha Kohli, on e-mail
In the item Municipality bites the dog (State Gazette, May 20), a typographical error implied that animal rights group Blue Cross sterilises 7 out of 8,000 dogs when it is 7,000-8,000. We regret the error.
