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Journalism of Courage
•While endorsing the point made by the leader ‘Gag reflex’, one must also sympathise with the presiding officers of both Houses of Parliament. With regard to the AIADMK MP Maitreyan’s ouster from the Rajya Sabha, one wondered if it was necessary for the ruling group to wait so long to say that the government would respond to the charges against T.R. Baalu? Likewise, can the opposition say with a clean conscience that it has been cooperating with the respective presiding officers? By their conduct, MPs repeatedly prove the late J.K. Galbraith right that “India is a functioning anarchy” in the name of democracy.
—M.K.D. Prasada Rao
Ghaziabad
•The Lok Sabha speaker’s exasperation is understandable since he wants to uphold the dignity of Parliament (‘Gag reflex’). But shouldn’t he be more concerned with criminals sitting as MPs? A non-Indian becomes an MP producing a fake birth certificate. The sanctity of Parliament needs to be upheld by severely punishing this person.
On the other hand, Parliament is a political arena and the speaker should not gag democratically elected representatives. While the stalling of parliamentary proceedings is in nobody’s interest, the opposition has indeed been consistently denied the opportunity to raise contentious issues. Often, MPs come to Parliament unprepared and T.R. Baalu’s arrogance was condemnable. The opposition should have been allowed its legitimate right to confront him fully. It seems that the speaker is not concerned at all about the blurring of right and wrong. Nothing causes greater injury to the dignity of Parliament than the arrogance and flaunted nepotism of a minister on its floor.
— Hilda Raja
Vadodara
Comic heroes
•One is sorry to witness the comparison of one service with the other, where a particular service (in this case the IAS) is derided and the cause of another is espoused (‘A tale of two officers’). Such comparisons should be passé after the report of the Sixth Pay Commission. I find the complaints of military officers comical and distasteful, especially since the protest comes from people belonging to the armed forces for whom discipline should be the hallmark of their professional and social identity. It is difficult to understand whether they want to be paid on par with the IAS or to have the IAS payscale lowered.
— Gunjeet Kaur
Jaipur
Bad boy
•Harbhajan Singh is emerging as a bad boy of Indian cricket (‘How Bhajji lost the IPL’). It seems that success, enormous publicity and too much money have gone to his head. He acted like a ruffian with Sreesanth and such antics of his should not be tolerated any longer. It was India’s sense of affront and the Australian arrogance that had put the nation behind Bhajji against Andrew Symonds. But Harbhajan’s actions at home, and then again against his national teammate, are indefensible.
— K.G.Dave
