Tags:
Journalism of Courage
8226; On the November 1, 1984, as I was going out of the campus of the Institute of Economic Growth for my morning walk with my dog, I found our chowkidar shouting at a young Sikh in pyjamas, whom he had caught hiding behind a water tank. I found a terrorised young man. 8220;Please save me. I am not a thief. The crowds are chasing all the Sikhs in Malkaganj and killing them. I ran for my life,8221; he told me. The chowkidar felt we should hand him over to the police. The young man pleaded with me: 8220;Then the police will kill me. They have instructions not to do anything for the next three days.8221; I did not believe him. I immediately took him home, introduced him to my family and assured him of full protection. I rang up the PM, the president and lieutenant governor of Delhi but their phones were constantly engaged. I then found out that indeed Sikhs were being killed. I was told that a salesman of Bata in Kamla Nagar whom I knew was killed because he was a Sikh. Our distinguished Sikh colleague in Delhi University8217;s sociology department had to seek shelter. At that time none of us believed that this could happen in India. The young Sikh whom I gave shelter to was right: the police did nothing for the next three days. I thank God that I could save one life. I fully endorse your editorial 8216;Tytler must go8217;, IE, August 10 and the touching article by Himmat Singh Gill on 8216;The bigger tragedy8217;.
8212; Ashish Bose New Delhi
Judging ourselves
8226; Is it not strange that a minister comes under a cloud in the report of an inquiry commission, and yet the gentleman refuses to vacate his office? Indians generally seem to lack in the ability to judge themselves.
8212; M.K.D. Prasada Rao Ghaziabad
Congress record
8226; You have rightly said in the editorial, 8216;Action not taken8217; IE, August 9, that the UPA government headed by the Congress has been given a chance to atone in some measure for the anti Sikh-riots and emerge as a force committed to the secular principle. However looking at the past record of the Congress, I am afraid it will never initiate action against Jagdish Tytler for its involvement in 8217;84 riots. For it, one person in power is more important than 2,733 people killed.
8212; Ram Gurbaxani Hopkins
Politics again
8226; We were so happy now that there is peace in Punjab, that 1984 was a distant memory and everything is normal. But politics keeps bringing back old issues constantly. Where will this politics take our nation?
8212; Jyoti Gupta New York
Cricket review
8226; The Colombo match raises a lot of unanswered questions. First, the Indian squad was not entirely convincing. Venugopala Rao, Balaji and J.P. Yadav were squeezed in without much justification. Second, Agarkar, who did well in his last match against Pakistan, was left out. Third, sending Kaif late was wrong. He is not a big hitter. Either he has to be at Number 3 or has to sit out. Keeping him at Number 5 or 6 when the team requires 6 runs per over is also not justified. Hope Greg gets it right next time.
8212; Raghuraman K.L. Bangalore
8226; Congrats to Yuvraj Singh for his brilliant century but is it not astonishing that he had not scored even a half century for the whole year and this one came
after 31 matches? How can we give a person so many chances?
8212; Naved New Delhi
