The Bengal Alifate (Jan 30) was an interesting piece on a phenomenon not heard of elsewhere. But you would have done well to highlight one fact: when the Left Front came to power in 1977, the funds allocation for madrassas was Rs 5 lakh, which climbed to Rs 115 crore in 2000-2001. Is this benevolence really necessary for the sake of teaching Islamic history and Arabic (one of which is a compulsory subject) by institutions that seem to offer secular/liberal education like some fig-leaf? The reason for this appeasement is quite unclear.
Soumya Guha,
Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico
It’s painful that after so many years and clinching evidence in the form of documents, the Bofors accused had not been brought to book (Who Put Off the Freezer?, Jan 30). What has added to the disgust now is the temerity of the people who have facilitated defreezing of Ottavio Quattrocchi’s bank accounts to cling on to power.
R.R. Sami, Tiruvannamalai, TN
The sooner we dump the Bofors issue once and for all, the better. The case is serving no purpose except wasting the nation’s precious time and effort. It has been a fruitless diversion. Our focus on national development gets blurred—all the energy is riveted on stalling government functioning. I don’t think the common man is any more interested in Bofors or Quattrocchi. Will the Opposition please oblige in the national interest and allow the upa to run the country?
Madhu R.D. Singh, Ambala Cantt
If the prime minister wasn’t aware of a misdemeanour of this magnitude, the world will think that India is nothing more than a banana republic. Why is it that no action’s been taken against the guilty so far? What prevents the PM from dismissing law minister H.R. Bharadwaj, the cbi director and others alleged to be involved? Why can’t they be proceeded against for a crime no less than defrauding the nation?
T.S. Krishnamoorthy, Navi Mumbai
The PM wants and likes to live in denial. If he sees no evil and hears no evil, he likes to think that he does no evil. Remember how he peddled the line that the 1984 Delhi riots were a handiwork of the rss? He likes to think that the Congress is all pure. As for Bharadwaj, he is an ultra-loyalist appointed by Saint Sonia primarily to fix the cbi on Bofors. Now that Q’s got his money, they can easily dispense with Bharadwaj.
Ajit Tendulkar, Seattle, US
Isn’t it a cruel irony that innocents spend their lives behind bars on flimsy grounds but big fish like Quattrocchi are allowed to get away so easily? It’s surprising that the PM has been kept in the dark about the cbi’s manoeuvres when he should have been the first person to know about the inside stories of the Q proceedings. Such dubious events not only make a mockery of the legal procedures but also speaks rather low of the political savvy of Manmohan Singh. Or is it his integrity we should doubt?
Arvind K. Pandey, Allahabad
Who is to blame in the Bofors case? Certainly not Bharadwaj, the cbi or the pmo; but bjp’s Arun Jaitley who was additional solicitor general in 1990 in the V.P. Singh government, and travelled to Europe with cbi officials on the Bofors case. No wonder, he’s now fighting a lone battle.
Raj Bharadwaj, Mumbai
So passionate was Bharadwaj in speaking for Mr Q that he sounded more like the Italian’s counsel than India’s law minister.
Akshay J., Secunderabad
Nothing but mere cowardice on the part of Quattrocchi to flee India and then claim innocence, hiding in Malaysia and Italy. He should stop talking crap and face the Indian court.
Bhaskar Chatterjee, Fairfield, US
The Bofors issue is like Dracula: rising from the coffin at weird hours and then making a hasty, tentative retreat.
H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Mysore
The sharp fall in the population of Hindus from 30 per cent in 1900 to 8 per cent in ’05 in ‘East Bengal’ shows that Pakistan is not alone in its mistreatment of minorities. Outlook’s done a great job of reporting on Sindh’s Stolen Brides (Jan 23). But can Vinod Mehta do another cover on the condition of minorities in Bangladesh or the Reangs of the Northeast before he starts claiming to be a champion of minorities (even if they be Hindu)?
Sunaina Pandey, Dehradun
A shocking eye-opener! As a woman and from the minority community, I am appalled.
Aaliya Ahmed, Delhi
The rising viewership for spiritual channels (Count Your Blessings, Jan 30) only establishes what TV is—an idiot box. You see Satya Sai baba waving to his loyal devotees in the pink of health and nodding his Afro hairdo at music performances when he is actually being pushed around in a wheelchair today and can’t even lift his right hand which once used to produce holy ash for devotees, curing a myriad illnesses. Why can’t he use it to cure his own? Ramdev too has an obvious tic in the eye which neither his yoga nor his ‘medicines’ have been able to cure. The country needs a spirit of enquiry and scientific temper which seem to be at a discount these days. The gurus of spiritual channels utilise every advance in technology to suit their non-science. And find a ready audience in a country that has people who’re literate but not educated.
Narendra Nayak, Mangalore
I am a huge fan of yours, but was disappointed with the tone of your response to Tarun Tahiliani’s letter (That’s Just Cold Couture, Jan 16). I don’t know Tahiliani or much about Indian fashion, but was rather surprised that you would respond in a haughty tone to a complaint (legitimate or otherwise) about an article. If that’s the customer service you offer for your product, there aren’t going to be too many buyers. My unsolicited advice is that you should have thanked him for the nice things he said about your magazine, and politely made your defence.
Sachin Agarwal, Virginia, US
During his visit to the National Defence College 20 years back (when I was senior directing staff, civil, there), Prem Shankar Jha was asked by a student if he thought that the j&k issue was negotiable. He had said, "Not beyond the point that the accession of the state to India is final", and that India could not be dissuaded from backing this position with military strength. He has come a long way in suggesting that India was being a spoiler by rejecting Musharraf’s proposal for gradually demilitarising the state (A Faltering Choreography, Jan 23). He is, of course, entitled to an update. (As is, perhaps, his photograph.)
K.K. Sharma, Gurgaon
Jha’s always been at the forefront of brainless blithering when it comes to Pakistan. This when Hurriyat ‘moderates’ like Umer Farooq have turned out to be Pak stooges with no interest in j&k people, only in their own Pakistan-funded plush living.
Sikka Raman, Greenland
Funny that the BJP is creating a hullabaloo about the Supreme Court verdict on Buta Singh. Certainly, Buta must go. But then the same court had passed much more stringent indictments on Narendra Modi on a much more serious issue.
Rajan Alexander, on e-mail
Global warming and climate change are indeed pertinent issues (It’s Too Hot in the Igloo, Jan 23). Apart from the maladies you list, such as extreme weather conditions, melting glaciers and malarial pandemics, forest areas are seeing a different kind of loss. There is an unprecedented mortality of shisham trees that populate large parts of northern India. You only have to travel east from j&k towards Bihar to see large stretches along the highway lined with yellow trees. A conservative estimate of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, puts the loss at 4 lakh trees though the actual figure may be 20 lakh. The cause of mortality is equally baffling. No pathogen or pest could move to such a vast stretch without being detected. It has to be the Asian Brown Haze over India since 1995.
A.N. Shukla, Dehradun
Vinod Mehta’s reading of Dravid’s mind in his Delhi Diary (Jan 30) was quite simplistic. The thinking captain knew he had nothing at stake in that First Test against Pakistan even if he was out first ball for a duck. But a century by Ganguly on the placid Lahore track, which eventually doled out six, would have upset the applecart he and Chappell were pulling. And Dravid’s doing this to a man who reinstated him in the odi squad as a gloveman when his bat was failing him.
Pradip K. Ray, Guwahati
Vinod Mehta’s tribute to Pakistan civil society can’t hide the real reasons for the cover ‘expose’ Outlook did on the plight of Hindu girls in Pakistan. Obviously, he has to retain credibility and give coverage to all things—and make sure no one notices his editorial squint. He let that slip in the Romesh Bhandari interview on Volcker in December and is now trying to tie himself in knots. Why should we in India care specially for Hindu girls everywhere—when it is clear that in over 10 years, we have killed 10 million foetuses (the population of Finland where I work currently!). What is the big deal if this is happening in Sindh? Now, your editorial prowess shows in the Quattrocchi story. One, it is written in so muddled a fashion that one can’t figure out what is going on. Two, there is the usual insinuation that Advani and Vajpayee were somehow involved. Why try when you know full well that Signor Q may affect the future of the Congress and Mrs G, but even a full exposé at worst will bury Vajpayee for good. Advani, I don’t think, was in on it. And hey, I haven’t seen a denial from you about the Rajya Sabha ticket. Is Nitish Kumar helping your cause in return for your praise?
Sankara Rajanala, Helsinki, Finland
For anyone who had an English education and grew up in the ’80s (even when not a Bengali or a civil servant) English, August is the definitive book of the generation. Good to know that The Style’s Still Weighty (Jan 30), and that Upamanyu Chatterjee is still around and writing.
S. Mala, Mumbai
