If your appreciation of the BJP’s electoral strategy after its victory in Karnataka was ironical but welcome, equally refreshing was the change in the saffron party’s own political method (The White Lotus, Jun 9). It was nice to see a pro-Hindutva party shedding its communalist line and managing its first victory in a south Indian state. Hopefully, this would enthuse more parties to shun divisive politics.
George Olivera, Mysore
It’s indeed surprising that a diehard Congress supporter like Vinod Mehta should choose to remove his blinkers to see the BJP’s gradual transformation into a party that’s now gaining wider acceptance in the country’s politics (A Chance for Mr Advani). There may have been a set of factors that helped the BJP in Karnataka, but the party now looks to continue its run in the upcoming general elections too.
P.P. Sethumadhavan, on e- mail
I’m amused by the way your magazine works: the editor changes his attitude towards a particular party at a convenient time, and the rest of the reporters fall in line with it.
Vinod, Bangalore
For all this euphoria over the BJP’s poll victory in Karnataka, I am not pleased with the kind of party it still is. No, it isn’t anti-minorityism that’s repelling about the BJP. It is the narcissism, corruption and, worse, the duplicity of its leaders who would do anything to advance their selfish interests.
S. Krishnamurthy, Gurgaon
I’m more than impressed with the recovery our principal opposition party has made after plumbing such depths in between. Its origin in the Hindi heartland had worked as a limiting factor in its previous attempts to attain a pan-Indian character. But Karnataka promises to change all that. It’s now a party with a mission.
Bijay Singh, Hyderabad
At a time when the BJP is going centrist, Muslims have acted on cue by issuing a fatwa against terror. Both Hindu ultra-nationalism and radical Islam have softened at the edges.
Keshav Tandon, on e-mail
The Karnataka poll result can’t be taken as proof that the BJP’s changed policy found acceptance. Plainly, it was a sympathy wave which stemmed from the jd(s)’s infamous betrayal that helped the saffron party. Plus, the Congress’s inability to project itself as a pro-farmer party and consolidate its cadres.
S. Lakshmi, on e-mail
Playing on victimhood—it’s one technique political Islamism has squeezed dry. Now, this is what has worked well for the BJP too. But I doubt whether the party can sustain it.
M. Vijayakumar, Bangalore
It remains to be seen if the BJP in Karnataka manages to fulfil its poll promises. The Gujjar stir in Rajasthan, where the party had dangled the carrot of inclusion in the ST category before the community in 2004, must have taught its netas a lesson on the dangers of recklessly drafting manifestos.
Ramachandran Nair,
Ruwi, Oman
Whether or not BJP the leopard changes its spots, the party will remain the same old jackal.
Vidudala Prasad, New York
The Karnataka model casts the BJP in new light—in that sense Vinod Mehta is right: we now have another political choice (A Chance for Mr Advani). The party may have wooed a whole range of castes, but upper-caste Hindus still dominate its top brass. Well, the case is no different with the Congress either.
Rajesh Chandra, Phoenix, US
What is the great transformation that Mr Mehta has seen i n the BJP?Is he oblivious of the kind of communal polarisation the party engineered in places like Mangalore and Hubli in the run-up to the polls? I expected a sterner battle for secularism from VM, not an early chickening out.
Kasim Sait, Chennai
I am not sure if it’s his disillusionment with the Congress or a new-found love for the BJP that is prompting VM to hail the saffron surge in Karnataka. In case he is really excited about the BJP’s maiden win down south, I must tell him this is a general trend with elections in India. The party that rules the Centre always stands the risk of losing power in states. It happened even during the previous nda regime.
Munir Parikh, Ahmedabad
Only a self-confessed pseudo-secularist like VM can describe the history of the BJP as "brief but tortuous and bloody". Agreed, the Congress has a longer history—but it isn’t any less bloody. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Emergency-era excesses.... Why, even the Partition was a result of the greed and tactlessness of its leaders.
V. Agarwal, Northampton
Come on, this isn’t the first time the BJP has changed its spots. In its original avatar as Jana Sangh, Muslim-bashing was its staple diet. Then, as the BJP, it sought to assimilate certain Gandhian ideas—to make itself look like a national party. Gradually, as it sensed power, the party began to speak of governance. Even development isn’t any new plank. Forgot ‘India Shining’?
Prof P.D. Gupte, Pune
Even as I read VM’s edit on a softening BJP, TV channels were airing the story of a ‘moral police force’ beating up a young couple in a park. Their only ‘offence’: romancing. The BJP is welcome back to power if it replaces its symbol with another red flower: the rose.
J. Nath, Gurgaon
For an honest analyst, it would appear that democracy fell ill in India when Indira Gandhi took over as the PM for no reason other than being the daughter of Pt Nehru. Jayaprakash Narayan restored it to some health, but Charan Singh made it terminally ill. V.P. Singh then doctored it back it life—but his medicine (casteism) was to have serious side effects. Later, just as we thought the BJP-led NDA had given it the kiss of life, the good old quacks from the Congress and co replaced them. Democracy, it seems, won’t breathe for long in India.
V. Sheshadri, Chennai
What brings greater credit to the BJP’s win is it wasn’t media-engineered. In fact, it is a classic case of "in spite of you". Well tried, Vinod Mehta!
Srinivas, Lucknow
A fake journalist, now unable to digest the BJP victory, VM is vomiting out his frustration.
Devendra Patel, Ahmedabad
I only wish VM got it wrong. If L.K. Advani becomes our next PM, journos like him can start writing the obituary of India.
Kel Shorey, Glasgow
The BJP did not win Karnataka, the jd(s) lost it (Pepper ‘N Salt). Let no one forget that the saffron party, after all, failed to get simple majority.
S. Balakrishnan, Jamshedpur
The BJP should note that every other state doesn’t have a Deve Gowda to help it at the polls.
M.H. Rao, Hyderabad
Thanks for giving the exact caste breakup of the legislators. When the emperor is naked, Outlook should stop accusing others of casteism.
R. Rajeev, Delhi
The Congress leadership suffers not just from myopia, terminal paranoia is more like it (Wring Thy Hands). Its top netas have always been from the Nehru-Gandhi family, and their obsession has been to stunt the growth of political opponents within the party. All the while, they’d blabber some development spiel—like Garibi Hatao or Bharat Nirman.
Vijay A., on e-mail
The BJP has started looking for allies; it knows time is just right for it. After all, right partners only helped the Congress win in ’04—but maybe not this time.
P.K. Kumar, Pune
The government may have its own logic to justify the rise in petrol prices, but I see several lacunae in it (Pump Jack Pressure, Jun 16). It’s said that 73 per cent of petrol India consumes is imported. Then why is the manufacture of cars—and loans for buying them—encouraged? Ok, the value of cars jacks up the gdp, but then it adversely affects the economy too. The government also consumes a lot of fuel—why do all public servants cloistered in mouldy offices have to have cars? That way, even if you don’t own a car, you have to pay tax for it. Are these taxes brought by global compulsion? No, it’s just bad economics and lousy governance!
J.N. Bhartiya, Lucknow
The peace deal by the PPP-led coalition government with Benazir Bhutto’s killers underlines the fact that Pakistan has succumbed to militants and jehadis (My Peace, First, Jun 9). This is a morale-booster for the terrorists, and will likely have a catastrophic effect on Afghanistan. An emboldened Taliban would now promptly intensify its fight against nato-backed Afghan forces.
Manoj Parashar, Noida
The self-serving attempt to enlist rural voters through nregs has failed (Snafu Socialism, Jun 9). The upa has displayed a lack of imagination in executing its plans. Instead of wasting funds on nregs, it could have launched infrastructure-building programmes where rural folk could have got real work. A bid to bribe farmers in the form of loan waivers too is a waste. This money could have been used to boost farm infrastructure.
A. Dutta, Los Angeles
The UP police, at no stage, showed signs of cracking the Aarushi murder case (Novocaine Files, Jun 9). The cops goofed it up on day one, taking domestic help Hemraj for the prime suspect when his own body was lying inside the Talwar house. Soon they claimed to have solved the case—and, God, the police’s version, was replete with indiscreet language and insensitive innuendo. Hope the cbi would now do a fair investigation.
Kartikey Mehta, Ahmedabad
Shefalee Vasudev’s Murder in the Media was that rare article that reflects the gullible public on whose ignorance thrive our television newschannels.
Jenny Rapheal, on e-mail
Clearly neo-Orientalist perspectives have clouded our view of China (Books, Jun 9). I can myself narrate a first-hand experience regarding the Chinese. When I was six, my family had to evacuate from the east Himalayas—during the 1962 Chinese invasion. We moved to the US, soon I faced a second invasion—brought in through the backdoor by the likes of Henry Kissinger and his fellow Jews who control Hollywood, the nyt, Wall Street, Harvard and Washington itself. It’ll take another 500 years for the Chinese to respect diversity and democracy. Before long though, they’ll destroy American values of free speech and democracy. They are fundamentally different from Indians, and thank God for it!
Dr D. Gupta, Scottsdale, US
If people do experience a profound spiritual awakening from a visit to India, what is wrong or disagreeable in that? It shows there is a quality to India that doesn’t exist in other countries (Movie Review, June 9). Of course, not everyone is going to be affected in the same way, but to dismiss or denigrate a plausible experience shows a lack of empathy.
Varun Shekhar, Toronto
Your report on Arun Sarin’s (Sundial Tilts, June 9) exit as Vodafone ceo shows mixed feelings. Seeing the ground realities, it’s anybody’s guess how the new India chief Asim Ghosh achieves the goals set by Sarin. The present set of executives manning Vodafone’s fancy showrooms and call centres lack proper training, motivation and orientation. Most pass on mobile connections to customers without giving them proper information.
Vinod Tuli, Noida
The CPI(M)-engineered violence in Nandigram and Singur has now found an echo in the panchayat elections, where the Left were given a drubbing (People’s Party, Jun 2). To regain the lost ground of democratic freedom, the CPI(M) must protect law-abiding citizens from its own goondas.
K.R. Srinivasan, Chennai
Vinod Mehta is right when he says a newspaper designer can’t perform magic, only present articles, photos and infographics in an appropriate and pleasing grid (Delhi Diary, Jun 2). That can only add depth to articles and editorials written by journalists. Sure, Garcia can’t be the only one who can do this; we have many talented designers in India too.
Naresh Khinchi, Ahmedabad
Reading your Jun 2 cover (Swiggin’ Janes), I was saddened to see a good magazine like Outlook promoting gender discrimination. A few months ago, you had a cover on women smoking; and now on drinking! By doing so, you’ve proved yourself to be part of the chauvinistic Indian society.
Dr Neha Gupta, on e-mail
The urge to write a response to your story on women and alcohol came to me not after reading the article, but after the letters it attracted (Jun 16). Okay, drinking isn’t any sign of women’s liberation, but such high-minded condemnation of women who drink is hardly fair. Calling it a ‘deadly trend’ that is deteriorating our ‘age-old values’ reflects society’s double standards. How many would think of men drinking as an erosion of middle-class morality, to be curtailed by drinking ‘amid the company of elders and children’? It only shows you are keen to go for a separate set of moral rules for women? In that case, of course, they’ll shout back!
Amy Lee, on e-mail
This is apropos V. Natarajan’s letter (Jun 16) in response to my interview ‘The Ghazipur and Patna opium factories together produced the wealth of Britain’ (May 26), where he says that the Ghazipur factory "never actually ‘manufactured’ opium". Well, opium has been manufactured in great quantities in Ghazipur for a very long time; this may well be the oldest continuous manufacturing operation in India. The manufacturing operations in the 19th century are described in great detail in a book written by a one-time superintendent of the factory, J.W.S. Macarthur. Titled Notes on An Opium Factory and published in 1865, the book has these lines on its first page;: "Ghazeepore is a small station situated on the banks of the Ganges, about forty miles below Benares, the well known place of Hindoo worship.... The Principal feature here is the Opium Factory, situated at the east end of the station.... To this Factory is sent the produce (opium) of all poppy cultivation throught the North-Western Provinces and Oudh; and from here, after being manufactured into round cakes, well protected with thick elastic coverings formed of the petals of the poppy flower, the season’s provision is sent to the Presidency of Bengal, to be sold to merchants who export the drug to China and other parts of the world." Chapter 5 of the book, titled ‘Manufacture of Opium Cakes’, further elaborates: "...no fewer than two hundred and fifty cake makers are employed, all working in the same building and to assist them more than double of that number of boys are engaged. A person who has never seen them work cannot possibly conceive that natives are capable of working with such alacrity as these do". According to Macarthur, chemical derivatives of opium, like morphia and narcotine, were also manufactured at the factory.
Macarthur’s account was published when the factory had already been in operation for a long time. Noted historian Peter Ward Fay visited the factory many decades later, well after India had become independent. He wrote an account of the factory in his book, The Opium War: 1840-42 (University of North Carolina Press, 1975). He writes: "In 1954 the Ghazipur factory produced not quite four hundred and eighty tons of opium, drawing for the purpose on 50,000 acres of the poppy. Of this quantity 290 tons—at 170 pounds of opium to the chest, about 3,400 chests—left Ghazipur for points overseas, enough to satisfy between a quarter and a third of the world’s annual legitimate medical requirements. The figures for the years since cannot have been much greater and may have been less" (page 5).
I trust this will set your correspondent’s doubts at rest.
Amitav Ghosh, New York
