Alas, how unsafe is the life of the common Indian at the hands of the police—the very force meant to protect him (Sharpshooters, May 14)! What a mockery our men in khaki make of the maxim Satyameva Jayate! What’s more, such encounters are staged amid increasing tension between the majority and minority communities. Perhaps some political parties secretively encourage—even engineer—such acts to promote their interests. It’s time authorities constituted an autonomous body that would help the police carry out its duty honestly—without political interference.
T. Sathyamurthi, Folsom, US
It is the English media that’s giving a ludicrous spin to the issue. For, you tend to view such incidents through the prism of politics and religion. Else, how can you sympathise with a hardcore criminal like Sohrabuddin Sheikh?
Chaithanya, Chennai
It is circumstances that, after all, decide the result of encounters. So, when it comes to eliminating evil, the law of the land may simply get replaced by the law of the nature.
Vinod, Bangalore
Yes, it’s the gravity of the situation that originally necessitated encounters. The zero-sum game that is terrorism made it a regular feature in Punjab and j&k. Its spread elsewhere smacks of mere convenience and the lackey-like conduct of the police vis-a-vis the ruling class.
Dr S.K. Aggarwal, Amritsar
It’s not exactly as if the political class uses the police as mercenaries. Rather, governments are pandering to the wishes of certain communities—for electoral benefits.
Sarju Soni, Ahmedabad
As a resident of Gujarat, I can say the situation in my state is normal. Vested interests may heap CM Narendra Modi with abuses but his government deserves praise for admitting the truth in the fake encounter case and handing back the probe to a top police officer who is not in their good books.
J. Khandwalla, Surat
Being trigger-happy has its merits. Proof: the end of militancy in Punjab, the reining in of Mumbai’s underworld, the reduction in Andhra’s Naxal problem. If bullets can free us from beasts, so be it.
G. Natrajan, Hyderabad
Now you ask the question: Sheriff or Badmash? But was it not the press that glorified "encounter specialists" first? This is a lesson to all of us.
Bhaskar, Ann Arbor, US
So long as it is against the law, killing cannot be eulogised. Stop this nonsense of real life imitating reel life.
Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
K.P.S. Gill isn’t the right man to speak on the subject (‘Encounters should happen, if required’). Countering insurgency in Punjab, he had eliminated innocent families—women and children.
Muntajib Khan, Aurangabad
I think encounters only stoke militancy—not help contain it.
Nirmalan Dhas, Colombo
Terror in Punjab ended because then Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto agreed with her Indian counterpart Rajiv Gandhi not to support Khalistanis.
A.N. Banerjee, Newcastle, UK
Developed countries tend to act decisively against practices of research misconduct (Wise Words, But Another’s, May 14). For example, when Bill Clinton was president, he had issued this finding, "Research misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research results." His Office of Science and Technology had been authorised to establish facts in instances of research misconduct, and ordered that when such misconduct is established by a preponderance of evidence, the scientist concerned and his institution be denied federal funding. The contrast in our country is striking. Mashelkar wasn’t the only one; many scientists in senior positions of responsibility too have been known to recklessly indulge in research misconduct. Asking them to protect the cause of science is like asking a goat to guard a cabbage. The Society for Scientific Values must be given statutory authority, with the principal scientific advisor to the government of India as the appellate authority in such matters. It is also time that ethics in the practice and management of science is taught at the pre-university level itself.
S.R. Valluri, Bangalore
In India, there is no accuracy in research, especially in biology. Those who do research outside this country on the tail of a big team come back and present the team’s achievements as their own in national conferences and seminars. They even get national awards for it, including the young scientist award. What else can we expect given the mockery of procedure that is seen at the time of recruiting candidates for MPhil/ PhD projects? Anyone can enter the system by manipulating it.
Perian, Chennai
You portray Y.V. Reddy’s dilemma in tackling the impact of the falling greenback on the heated rupee and the overheated economy quite accurately (Rupee Rules Dollar, May 7). The plunging dollar is likely to boost US exports and reduce imports from Asia, thus stimulating US growth. As a counter-measure, we too should reduce our dependence on the US as a destination for exports (including invisibles) and look for greener pastures. Let’s also liberate our capital account. This alone would take care of inflation and rising home loan rates.
Kausik Dutta, Calcutta
Coaching Factories are Dumbing Down the iits (Apr 30) was a timely article. The deterioration in the iits started in ’81 when the five-year BTech programme was turned into a four-year one. I was a student at iit Kanpur from 1979-1984. My department alone had four faculty members with PhDs from mit. Today, it might be difficult to find even one academic with such credentials in all of iit. Instead the staff at many of the iits has graduates either from very ordinary colleges or even from private ones. Inbreeding is common, the iit Faculty Council is not what it used to be, the time-tested jee has been discontinued. With students of all branches assured of getting into a tcs or an Infosys in this boom time of industry, they do not consider it necessary to study for core or departmental subjects; it’s enough to pass in them. And the less we talk about the role of the ministry, chairmans and directors, and their lack of vision, the better it is. Since 1979, the number of seats in the original five iits has remained almost the same. When our country needs software professionals in lakhs, iit-k is taking the same number of boys in civil engineering as in computer science! At ntu Singapore (world rank 15), they admit more than 500 boys in the computer stream every year. At Cornell, they admit more than 5,000 students every batch. In iit-k, my alma mater, in the last 25 years, they have added two hostels and 100 seats. The set-up here is totally Brahminical with too much stress on paper publication and research (all that the substandard faculty and rejected MTech-PhD students are capable of). Till now, all the money has been siphoned off for research and nothing for academics. We need visionaries to take this nation forward, not sycophants of the ministry.
Prof Sanjay Kumar, Ranchi
While gdp growth is held ransom to energy security, the latter itself, despite the hype, remains elusive. As energy continues to fire the economic boom in other bric countries, and China and Russia make giant strides in this sector, India flounders and revels in politics (Who Mans Rig?, Apr 30). After much debate on whether or not he should get an extension, Subir Raha gets the boot on his last day. Months of dithering later the pesb picks a home-grown accountant. The appointment hits a roadblock when a knowledgeable PM aborts the proposal to make R.S. Sharma, director, finance, the head of ongc, as he wants an able go-getter and someone endowed with international exposure to exploration and a vision to move the stagnant oil and gas output, an area where India has faced repeated reversals from the Chinese juggernaut. Thereafter a search committee is set up and the PM mandates a three-month time-frame. Still, R.S. Sharma openly states and goes on record that he won’t be a candidate again. Politics steps in and Sharma changes tune and is reported to admit that the petroleum minister wants him to seek the prestigious post (after all, it’s the helm of India’s biggest profit-making psu). Attempts are made to back Sharma by threats of a strike in ongc if the PM attempts to seek another candidate. Meanwhile, with the deadline approaching, the search committee headed by pesb chief N.K. Sinha flounders around. While the objective is lost sight of, a year would go past and ongc will continue headless in the morass of falling returns and stagnant production of vitally needed resource, viz energy.
Vijay Mehta, New Delhi
Why just Pakistan, we have our share of religious fanatics too who frown upon women’s emancipation and would be happy if they were not seen or heard (The Virtuous Mob, May 21). Fortunately their numbers are small and they are unable to influence modern urban women. However, women from poorer, more conservative backgrounds are victimised regularly. Gender discrimination is rampant in smaller towns and rural areas in India as well. In fact, Indian women are in real danger even before they’re born: they’re done away with at birth!
R. Manchanda, on e-mail
I am ashamed at the gutless Indian leadership which has no problems giving Taslima Nasreen the highest awards for speaking out against the atrocities on Hindus and women in Bangladesh but cannot offer her a place to stay in India for fear of upsetting the Dhaka government (It Feels, Speaks, Smells Like Home, May 14). Somehow our politicians think secularism means appeasing just the Muslim mullahs, the rest—be it Hindus or liberal Muslims—are treated as outcasts the moment they say anything against Islam.
Arun K. Bhatia, San Diego
In a secular democracy, free thinkers disowned by the theocracy of any state, and not just Bangladesh, need to be given refuge. It is incomprehensible why our government should be pussyfooting on a positive decision as it would only enhance its secular-liberal image in contrast to the crocodile tears the parivar is shedding for Taslima, supporting her cause for all the wrong reasons.
Kasim Sait, Chennai
Taslima just needs to follow the hordes of Bangladeshis coming into India, courtesy the bdr and the bsf. She can get a new identity and live peacefully, government policies be damned.
S. Prasad, Santa Clara, US
After reading your article Blood Money Flow (May 07), I want to point out a few things. When you say "Visa and Mastercard should be brought under the scanner", the statement assumes that it is the sole responsibility of Visa etc to monitor suspicious activity. This is not completely true, the responsibility lies with the issuing bank to monitor activity on credit cards. India has been caught napping when it comes to having a stringent legislation in place. Even now the guidelines laid down by the rbi leave a lot of room for money-laundering to go through undetected.
Muktesh, Bangalore
Opinion pieces like Garden of Miasma (May 14), even if written by senior journalists like Ajit Bhattacharjea, do disservice not only to your magazine but also to the brave efforts of Kashmiris and the armed forces. The present atmosphere of peace and progress in the Valley is entirely due to the persistent running down of the militant machinery by the armed forces, mostly with one hand tied behind their backs, and their effort to help the civilian population overcome day-to-day problems through various schemes. The army presence in empty buildings, apple orchards, grazing grounds and forested areas is precisely due to militant activities there and not because it wants to have a picnic! If Kashmir is still a part of India, it’s thanks to the sacrifices of the Indian armed forces. Their appeal can be gauged by the number of young Kashmiris lining up to get recruited. And Bhattacharjea makes it sound as though the army is the root cause of the Kashmir problem! For the common Kashmiri, as for any other poor Indian, corruption, employment, development and poverty are the real issues, not the armed forces which are thorns only in the backside of anti-national elements on the payroll of the Pakistan army, corrupt politicians and government officials.
Dinesh Rawat, on e-mail
Can we stop harping on Nehru’s ideals, they’ve already cost this country a lot. Let us try giving people their due instead: an effective, transparent administration.
S. Bandyopadhyay, Calcutta
It is very sad that in all the
brickbats and soundbites coming in the wake of our debacle at the World Cup, there was nary a good word for Anil Kumble. I can’t think of a more inspiring sight than Kumble taking the field with an excruciatingly painful, cracked jaw to shake the West Indies in its own backyard. His 10-wicket haul in Delhi is a feat that may be equalled but never surpassed. For over a decade, he terrorised batsmen all over the world with his guile. In spite of all his success, he never desired nor pursued the trappings of fame and "brand value". We blamed a foreign coach for our failures in cricket but it needs a Geoff Boycott to remind us of Kumble’s awe-inspiring achievement (Farewell, My Lovelies, May 7). Had Kumble been an Australian, he’d have been carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates to the deafening applause of a grateful crowd. Sorry Anil, we failed you as a nation, you deserved better.
Abhishek Kulkarni, on e-mail
Dear Mr Mehta, please, please do not feed Editor with such "high fat" goodies as Parmesan cheese or ice cream (Delhi Diary, May 14). A dog will eat anything, the tastier the better. If you really love Editor, give him home-cooked dal chawal, meat curry cooked with garlic and ginger, a pinch of haldi but no oil or salt. A dog is another member of your family, so it hankers for the food you eat. Sweets, of course, are a total no-no, irrespective of the breed. Even if their eyes are like melted chocolates.
Manjira Majumdar, Calcutta
And so Mayawati dashes to the ground Vinod Mehta’s hope for President’s rule in UP.
I. Chandra Rao, Hyderabad
It’s a sad commentary in this land of Khajuraho and Kamasutra that a kiss in the cause of aids awareness should have our political hypocrites shed such copious crocodile tears. I wish they came as thick and fast when people’s representatives are caught in acts of human trafficking or that of women.
Philip Ariel, Secunderabad
If only the media, including Outlook, paid heed to Vinod Mehta’s sage advice. It is time we formed a forum, a citizen’s platform to
register aam admi’s protest against these antics and pseudo-events. Rahul Gaur, on e-mail
The moment I get Outlook, I tear off the extended cover page. I know you need ad revenue, Mr Mehta. You can give the advertiser the extended privilege in some other way, but please make sure it does not irritate the subscriber.
A. Balu, Chennai
Apropos The Big Belittling (May 7), I respect intellectuals who do not have to degrade rituals performed by ordinary men such as we—who humbly, religiously and ardently worship Lord Shiva and Ma Durga and million other gods—like the teeming humanity itself spread like the unfathomable galaxy in eternal timelessness. The heavenly and soulful shlokas rendered beautifully by M.S. Subbulakshmi stand testimony to what every Indian is proud of: our rich cultural heritage. And Amitabh is just one more among us millions who blow the conch, burn incense, light oil lamps and offer bhog and flowers at the Lord’s feet in an atmosphere vibrating with pure devotion. The world has taken notice of the ‘guru’—the soul which is India—but our dry intellectuals prefer to remain imprisoned in their ivory towers. Amitabh is connected to the very soul of the masses, our intellectuals to the Egoistic mind.
A.S. Dutt, Pondicherry
Ramachandra Guha makes an unconvincing case in rejecting the use of the term ‘fascist’ for the BJP (Why India Survives, May 7). Applying the term to the BJP, he holds, would somehow diminish the unique ferocity, the violent impact of the fascists of Italy and Germany. This is an emotional rather than historical approach. The term ‘fascism’ not only precedes WW-II and the crimes against humanity for which Hitler and Mussolini are infamous today, it is widely applied to a 20th century political tradition that has enjoyed influence in several European countries—France, Britain among them. Roger Eatwell’s Fascism: A History is only one general study, among many, to trace the influence of fascism on the politics of modern European democracies, all the way to the ’90s. Organising a holocaust cannot be held as a precondition for deserving to be called fascist.
Guha cites the BJP’s willingness to dilute its stand on the national language (going on to champion linguistic pluralism) as proof that it isn’t fascist. Well, fascists in Germany and Italy were never coy about embracing the politically opportune compromise, even at the cost of some strands of ideology. The very Axis alliance—Germany, Italy, Japan—was based on precisely one such. The Japanese were no Aryans in Hitler’s universe. As for Italy, Mussolini too arrived at his anti-Semitic resolve well after seizing power. It was a late accretion to his politics, a friendly nod towards Hitler. Left to himself, Mussolini had happily kept a Jewish mistress, with whom he was seen in public.
Thus, the BJP is not distinct from the fascists in altering its ideology in some respects, with an eye to the main chance. By promoting linguistic pluralism today, it avoids alienating the consolidated Hindu votebank of its dreams. In a recent study, Terrifying Vision: M.S. Golwalkar, the rss and India, Jyotirmaya Sharma notes that even the terms ‘Hindu’ and ‘Hindutva’ were a second choice for Golwalkar: his original term of preference was ‘Arya’. Since it risked alienating the Dravida element, it was prudently abandoned for ‘Hindu’. Golwalkar’s politics wasn’t the less illiberal for this adjustment. Guha is quite right in citing the BJP’s immersion in electoral politics (and its relinquishing power upon electoral defeat) as an important difference from fascist norms. However, significant likenesses remain to link the BJP to the fascist tradition.
Like the fascists, the BJP sees the state not as a civic union but as the reflection of an ‘authentic’ cultural group that constitutes the nation. The authentic repositories of an Indian identity, in this worldview, are the Hindus and their traditions. (Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are subsumed within this identity, never mind their reluctance and bemusement, vocally expressed.) As for the Muslims and Christians, their loyalties are deemed suspect—their ‘punyabhoomi’ lies outside India. Besides, these communities have also to live down the shame of ‘historical wrongs’, their role in the past painted as an oppressive influence on the history of ‘genuine’ Indians. At best, Muslims and Christians are citizens on sufferance, their equal belongingness never to be affirmed. Recently, campaigning in Faizabad, Advani assured Muslims they were safe with the BJP. They must now voluntarily join in the effort to build the temple in Ayodhya, he added.
The BJP should not be viewed in isolation from the Sangh parivar—or Family Association, an identity that claims the contradictory impulses of the organic and the civic, for its origins. (An oxymoron a la Hitler’s National Socialism. ) The BJP insists on an identity distinct from the rss, but without specifying any difference in ideology. Then, there are the vhp, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagaran Manch etc—their differences always subordinate to the support they give one another. The Nazi Gauleiters, the Hitler Youth and the SS were likewise distinct, each group against the others, and nevertheless made a coherent whole. Hitler occasionally deplored the excessive enthusiasm (read murderous acts) of some, while recognising their cause as one he shared. Vajpayee’s speechmaking in Goa after Gujarat or after the Graham Staines murder (when he urged the nation to a debate on conversions) too is nimble footwork; pronouncements at a safe distance from the violence, but not rejecting its cause.
David Hardiman, in Gandhi, in His Times and Ours, points out how the rss was founded on a nationalistic rhetoric but in fact trained its cadre towards the waging of street warfare, or civil war. This is a key similarity with the fascista and the Nazi cadre. It is also significant that both Golwalkar and Savarkar were ‘blooded’ not in fighting the British colonialists, but in violence against civilians who were Muslim. The BJP cherishes the memory of both men.
It is, therefore, neither lazy—Guha’s assertion—nor irresponsible to use the term fascism to understand the BJP’s character. It may be a tad shrill to use the term 11 times in a single paragraph, as Guha accuses Arundhati Roy of doing, but it isn’t an unthinking usage. (In an interview to ndtv, I noticed that Guha’s count of the offensive use went up to 13—a tad shrill in itself, that!)
Salim Yusufji, Jabalpur
