1996 once more

• This refers to Shekhar Gupta’s interview with Jyoti Basu (‘A Cong-led coalition is what we are ...

• This refers to Shekhar Gupta’s interview with Jyoti Basu (‘A Cong-led coalition is what we are hoping, working for. Good thing is, Cong has learnt value of coalitions’, IE, May 3). Only the second phase exit poll finding has brought to the fore the shape of things in the secular front still to come. Political compulsions make Basu say that he has no objection in accepting Sonia Gandhi as the leader of the coalition and also as prime minister. On the other hand, CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan, while talking to the media in Coimbatore, said a secular government should not be led by a single party. He said there must be collective leadership for implementing a common minimum programme.
Laloo Yadav says Mulayam should not be a part of the secular front. Mulayam is non-committal on any such front and is keeping his cards close to his chest. The country witnessed enough of the performance of such a front in 1996-98 with these very players and a replay is most likely in case the NDA fails to get a majority.

—M.C. Joshi On e-mail

Memories of Pakistan

• I am not a Punjabi but I can imagine how strongly West Punjabis feel about the homes they left in Pakistan in the wake of the Partition in 1947.
Nearly 20,000 people visited Pakistan during the cricket series there. ‘Our home, house in Pakistan’ (IE, April 24) shows that many among these cricket fans also wished to locate their ancestral houses, old friends or even relatives. It would be nice if those who met with some success in their endeavours shared their human interest stories with readers. Many warm-hearted Pakistanis must have helped their Indian ‘‘guests’’ in these quests. There are op-ed stories out there waiting to be told.

— L.S. Narain New Delhi

Nurture that elf

• Sagarika Ghose’s article ‘The Elf of Self-Respect’ (IE, May 3) was insightful and well-written. I wish there was a way to educate the elf to recognise his power more forcefully.

—Sharma On e-mail

Story continues below this ad

• What wonderful analysis! Sagarika Ghose has hit the nail on the head. It is pathetic to see Sonia Gandhi try to be what she is not.

—Atar Mittal On e-mail

States of being

• It is indeed wonderful for an Indian scientist to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences (‘Ladakh to DC, Bangalore astrophysicist gets rare US honour’, IE, May 3). However, it would be even more wonderful if your reporters got facts straight. Professor Cowsik is at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri (the land of Mark Twain and Tom sawyer and Huck Finn) and not DC as your reporter repeatedly says in her report.

—Ramki Kalyanaraman Asst Prof, Dept of Physics, Washington University St Louis

Helpless justice

• Sorry to learn how helpless the outgoing Chief Justice of India, V.N. Khare, found himself in matters of checking discipline and conduct in the judiciary (‘Rebel HC judge to be shunted out’, IE, May 3).
Let us hope that the Supreme Court collegium has ‘‘teeth’’ enough to take the ‘‘deviant’’ judges to task.

—F.S.K. Barar On e-mail

In Odisha, Modi mounts ‘loot tantra-vs-bachat utsav’ attack on Congress over GST

India5 hr ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday hailed the revised Goods and Services Tax (GST) structures, saying the era of “double bachat (saving) and double kamai (income)” has arrived under the Bharatiya Janata Party rule. Addressing the ' Namo Yuva Samabesh' in Jharsuguda, Modi accused the Congress of indulging in “loot tantra (tactics)” while in power.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS