Apropos A Destructive Dilemma (Apr 6), Advani’s ads claim he provides decisive leadership, but he can’t even take a strong, clear stand on Varun Gandhi. In the national interest, the BJP should have got Varun to condemn the contents of the ‘hate’ CD. There is no point playing the disassociation double game, when the candidate himself won’t condemn the CD’s contents. Advani called for "restraint". But the issue isn’t just that. How is the problem solved if there is evil in the heart, and a person merely speaks with restraint? And to call the issue "trivial", as the ‘Iron Man’ did, is like saying ‘Talibanisation’ (the BJP’s perpetual grouse against the minority community) is a trivial issue.
M. Vijayakumar, Bangalore
Hate speeches against any religion have no place in society. That said, some of our Indian netas are acting as if they are the only secular people. And what’s with our upholder of all things secular, the cpi(m) in Kerala, having a poll alliance with that proven terror outfit, Abdul Nasser Madani’s PDP?
Shivkumar, Mumbai
The beauty of this election (Mate Check, Apr 6) is that the middle classes are finally gathering themselves and aligning with national parties. They are scared of the "unwashed" parties like Mayawati’s bsp or the Laloo-Mulayam camps. (And they say India is maturing as a democracy.) But are they scared enough to come out, brave the heat on polling day?
B.V. Gopal Rao, Warangal
Varun is the latest joker in this election drama. With a mother like Maneka and friends like the BJP, he needs no enemies.
Pear, Mumbai
If the practice of dharma is measured in terms of not causing harm, ex-US president George Bush would any day top the list of practitioners of ‘adharma’ for his actions post-9/11. Yet he was re-elected by his Christian compatriots who keep railing against all adharma as practiced by Modi, Togadia, Varun etc. Now another professed Christian president is on the same path vis-a-vis Afghanistan. Or am I mistaken? Is it possible that murdering innocent Muslims does not become adharma but speaking against them does the trick?
C.P. Narendran, Nagpur
The only way out of this communalistic impasse is to bring up our children to live in a religion-free world. Think about it. If you don’t teach your offspring to do the apparently innocuous but inwardly crippling religious obsequies that go with each religion, they will not learn to have faith in something that divides more than it unites. Has religion been of help to humanity as a whole? If it has helped, it has helped only the specific community.
Ashish Lahiri, Calcutta
Varun may be just a name but in Marathi it also means ‘from the top/from outside’. The Sanjay Gandhi offspring got carried away, and revealed his real character. Anyway, he’s part of the party’s frontline "bachcha team". Poor fellow, he’s now crying that he’s a victim. One more instance of his aatun (inner feelings) taking over the varun (exterior) nationalist?
Abdul Monim, on e-mail
Varun’s arrest was nothing short of melodrama. And it inevitably led to violence between his supporters and the police. All of it was avoidable. If this be the case pre-elections, one can well imagine our plight if the BJP comes to power.
Ashok Jayaram, Bangalore
Varun’s arrest was a conspiracy of the Congress top brass to strengthen the hand of that weakling, Rahul Gandhi. In his innocence, Varun used some undesirable language. The stint in jail will only make him more invincible.
Danendra Jain, Agartala
If Varun’s speech was wrong, let me draw attention to a letter Nehru wrote to our first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad (dated Nov 17, 1953). Panditji pontificated thus: "The Hindu is certainly not tolerant and is certainly more narrow-minded than almost any person in any other country, except the Jew." Now you know where the narrow-mindedness comes from.
C.B. Dyuthikar, Bangalore
Even as the Congress was carping on Varun’s hate speech, they were welcoming UP minister Haji Yaqoob Qureshi—the man who had announced a Rs 51 crore reward on a Danish cartoonist’s head—at the party office. The thing is Varun is not alone, there are many who desire a Hindu rashtra. And harbouring such sentiments is not a violation of the election code either. A ’96 judgement of Supreme Court Justice J.S. Verma laid to rest any misgivings on the topic, saying it is only an "expression of hope".
Rajiv Chopra, Jammu
Varun’s Pilibhit gaffe was just that, a public gaffe and it’s sad that he’s being hounded for it. Everyone knows that politicos, as a rule, say what they do not mean (look no further than Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi hatao’). Varun is being crucified in a country where ‘secular parties’ field candidates mostly on communal or caste basis. They do worse for secularism than Varun’s hyperbole. The kid was just using some aggressive marketing; the political trade demands such tactics.
J.N. Bhartiya, Hyderabad
Varun’s only crime was that he got carried away by the reel-life histrionics of Bollywood heroes. He tried to apply them in real life, unfortunately the camera didn’t help here.
Rajneesh Batra, New Delhi
Varun is a storm which will destroy our ill-begotten hinterland netas. But beware the Congress: they’ll cut down any rivals to the ‘first family’.
D. Jain, on e-mail
The country can only be saved if an independent, apolitical, dedicated forum joins the fray with an honest agenda for governance, creates a wave in its favour and is elected with a clear majority. The ‘high council’ can then run the country with dignity; the riff-raff will die a natural death in the political wilderness.
V. Seshadri, Chennai
High poll percentages will ensure a result that ends this politics of rice and reservation. The media must do its part.
Alka Mathur, Bhilai
Poor Outlook, having to stand by as the upa crashlands.
Gopi Maliwal, Hong Kong
Apropos The Loss Of Faith (Apr 6), your ‘secular’ coverage of the Kandhamal issue is skewed. One needs to look into the root of all trouble. Apart from the brutal murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswati, another goad for the violence was the distribution of a pamphlet, ‘Satya Darshini’, which calls Hindu gods and goddesses by the vilest of names. Typical of the missionary mindset in Orissa.
Aneesh, Hyderabad
"What does catch the eye is the sudden profusion of temples...." The same happened centuries back, as a reaction to the flourishing Buddhism. It was shivlings all around then —the post-Shankaracharya strategy to thwart Buddhism—and a return to tantrism. History repeats itself.
Surya Sharma, Calcutta
People in Kandhamal don’t want to go back to their villages not because of fear, but for the freebies like food and clothing provided at the shelters. I even know of people who have thronged to the camps for the same reason. And I’d like to ask the Archbishop of Bhubaneshwar if conversion is not a precondition to charity. As a non-practising, secular Hindu, I am aghast at the commercialisation of religion by the bjp and the Church. The former is easier to highlight as it proclaims its hate speeches from the roof. But make no mistake, the Church is not far behind. A cursory look at the booklet of case studies (enumerating atrocities against Christians) lends credence to my claim.
‘Free Speech’, on e-mail
In the entire article, there’s just a single mention of the swami’s murder. In Orissa, it’s now the Hindus who are fearful of persecution, as the Christian evangelist ngo World Vision steps up conversions.
S.S. Nagaraj, Bangalore
The media coverage of Kandhamal mirrors that of the Godhra incident. I am waiting for a Banerjee Commission which will conclude that the swami’s murder was an accident, or was plotted by the Hindus.
Anshul, Indore
Mr Mehta’s Delhi Diary piece on Sanjay Gandhi (Apr 6) was fun. Too bad the predictions of Maharaj Shamdas Udasi didn’t come true, but it throws light on how such soothsayers operate. I am reminded of how Khushwant Singh, as editor of Illustrated Weekly, recycled old horoscopes and palmed them off as new under a fudged name with great success when the magazine’s astrologer stopped writing. Someone like Udasi should now cast Varun’s horoscope too.
P.V. Ariel, Secunderabad
Mr Mehta must start writing Varun Gandhi’s biography. With the media at their throats, Maneka and son will support the venture wholeheartedly. Who knows, today’s bumbling demagogue may become tomorrow’s PM, he might even reward Mr Mehta with that long-denied RS seat.
Ramesh Raghuvanshi, Pune
Outlook’s last page, whenever VM writes the diary, becomes my first page. Even in the last issue, his comments on the IPL and security issues were illuminating. The last portion, on female Pakistani TV anchors, is ample proof that the greying VM is still young at heart.
P.P. Singh Chadha, Delhi
In all respects, the IPL is a business enterprise. Shifting of venues in sports happens all the time, all over the world. Why is so much noise being made for the IPL? And by the way, do you really think the girls on our TV are brainier? Come on, Mr Mehta, methinks you are only saying this to be on the shows! But I agree, a little oomph would have made up for their lack of brains.
Manish Banerjee, Calcutta
It’s unfortunate that a quirky, elitist game has lit such a controversy that eminent journalists like you are forced to write a piece. The IPL shouldn’t even be spoken of in the same breath as the general election.
B. Mishra, Bhubaneshwar
Our girls have to protect the land’s culture. That is why they lack oomph. If only the men would let them be, the ladies would show they are better than any Pakistani oomph girl!
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
Talking of manipulative ads, I want to share something I saw on cnn recently. A restaurant in London offered meals with no mention of the price. The customers were asked to give whatever they felt like paying after eating. At the end of the first week, the owner reported that most people paid 10-12 per cent more than what they would have charged normally. There wasn’t a single case where a customer ate and paid nothing at all! Really, humans are an enigma.
S.K. Bisht, Delhi
To my mind, the root cause of the mutiny in Bangladesh Rifles (The Great Game, Mar 16) is nothing but the gross indiscipline that has been growing in that organisation over the last decade or so.
R.P. Singh Rathore, Kanpur
It’s heartening to hear that the EC is at last becoming disabled-friendly (Right Buttons, Mar 30). The lack of facilities keeps many disabled voters from exercising their rights. The commission should identify disabled voters in each polling-booth area and arrange to make things easy for them.
Shirleen B. Sawkmie, Tura, Meghalaya
The snippet ‘All the Real Kings’ (Polscape, Apr 6) was hilarious. Not only is Manmohan no king, he’s a puppet on a string. And if Rahul takes up the reins of power soon, Manmohan will be shuttling between 10 Janpath and 12 Tughlak Lane.
K.R. Narasimhan, Chennai
Apropos The Laws are Mutable (Apr 6), the way forward for India is a) inclusive growth for all segments of society; b) economic reform on our own terms; c) reversal of the efforts of neo-liberals to insulate economic policy making from democratic processes.
V.N. Venugopal, New Delhi
The IPL drama (Match on the Veldt, Apr 6) showed only one thing: the organisers worried about revenues, the politicians about election results. No one cared for the cricket lover.
Sanjay Ranade, Pune
Sir Sikander Hayat Khan died in 1942. So how did he make statements in 1946, as Bull’s Eye (Apr 6) says? It’s easy to blame Gandhi and Nehru for Partition, but if there were people who knew better, why didn’t they come forward then? No one focuses on how the British engineered the Partition. In fact, as Kamleshwar says in Kitne Pakistan, Pakistan happened because of Churchill’s devious games.
Sushil Prasad, on e-mail
The article on the Miri Piri academy (Healthy, Happy, Holy, Mar 23) refers to the sixth Sikh guru as Hargobind Singh. It should be Hargobindji, for it was only after the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, that Sikhs started referring to themselves as Singhs.
Gurdev Singh, Mohali
Apropos Horizon Crosser (Mar 9), let me stress that ‘power projection’, ‘flag showing’ and ‘areas of influence’ are not empty terms. It’s God’s grace that we have an armed forces that can be relied on.
Lt Gen A.B. Masih (Retd), on e-mail
Your article, Kullu Gods Pvt Ltd (Apr 6), left me confused. The snowed out hills near Rohtang Pass are literally so far away that it’d never work as a real estate project. No one would go there except for tourism, and we never intended the sale of villas except on time-sharing for tourists. That Mr Ford and myself are long-practising Krishna devotees is no proof that we have political/ Hindutva agendas. Our interest in building temples is only so far as they reflect the true spirit of the Valley of the Gods. Be certain, our intentions are responsible to the environment of the sacred Himalayas and to Kullu’s people.
John Sims, MD, Himalayan Ski Village
As senior consultant to the HSV project, I’d like to offer a more balanced picture. With growing unemployment among the youth, every Himachal government announces its commitment to boosting tourism. Even World Bank and Planning Commission reports identify tourism as a critical requirement for the state’s growth. Yet Himachal remains a hostile, indifferent place for the sector with an administration and political system that is forever suspicious of its intent. It looks like hsv has gone the Singur way; the local community and the state are the real losers.
Romi Khosla, on e-mail
The world may have become flat, and the Germans may not want war anymore, but colonialism—even if by other means—clearly survives.
Varun Garde, Bangalore
As the producer of Barah Anna, I’d like to point out a factual inaccuracy in your review of the film. Your critic says our film has "a rather amateurish feel, the colour-coordinated slums seeming more in tune with a film like Dil Chahta Hai". Clearly, she has not been to Dharavi, or she would know that the slums look exactly the way they look in the film. I can say that with confidence because we shot in the actual dwellings of people in Dharavi, which is in fact a bright and colourful place. Most upper class people—myself included, before I produced this film—pass judgement on or nurse stereotypes about the masses with conviction but have very little first-hand exposure to their lives. It’s a gap the film tries to bridge.
Raj Yerasi, Mumbai
Apropos Turning in his Grave (Mar 30), I am shocked that Vijayalaxmi Pandit’s daughter could make such remarks. She claims the BJP is a party that has divided the country on the basis of religion. It was her uncle, Nehru, who did that.
Ishwar Chandra, Delhi
The writer says Varun chose a way that would take India back to the Middle Ages. Are the jehadis any different? This is the way to acquire power.
R.K. Mahajan, Shimla
