Conscience and recusal

I disagree with your editorial ‘Red-faced, vindictive’. Somnath Chatterjee has broken party discipline and his expulsion is not tantamount to the party getting red-faced and or vindictive.

• I disagree with your editorial ‘Red-faced, vindictive’. Somnath Chatterjee has broken party discipline and his expulsion is not tantamount to the party getting red-faced and or vindictive. His performance cannot vindicate him in the face of his act of indiscipline. His conscience should have, when he was elected to the Speaker’s post, caused him to resign from his party. You cite the example of a judge, but you forget if a judge happens to be an interested party in any manner, directly or indirectly, he recuses saying, “Not before me.”

— Kedarnath R. Aiyar

Mumbai

Approaching revolution?

• Apropos of your editorial ‘Red-faced, vindictive’, the expulsion of Chatterjee exposes the hypocrisy of the CPM’s boast of being a responsible social democratic force. In adamantly pressuring the Speaker to resign, it destabilised constitutional functioning of democracy for momentary gain. The Left, at present dominated by the ill-placed enthusiasm of the likes of Prakash Karat, acted on the ingrained autocracy of the party, which neither tolerates dissent nor believes in pragmatism. But the same party cracked down on a person like Chatterjee, who stood for the true spirit of ideology and had the guts to defy diktats. Which brand of communism does he profess? Is there something simmering behind the scenes waiting to rise against the suppressive rigidity and irrationality of the dominant few?

— Ved Guliani

Hisar

Men of honour

• Thank you for being one of the few papers to carry Manmohan Singh’s entire reply to the trust vote debate. I am grateful you gave your readers the chance to read the mind of our prime minister. The speech was deeply moving in that it showed how much this sensitive man was wounded by L.K. Advani’s constant put-downs and jibes. It also reinforced the pride we, his supporters, have for the prime minister — a man intelligence and integrity when seen in the context of the behaviour of the Left’s Mohd. Salim and other opposition members who deliberately shouted down and heckled every speaker but their own. There are still some men of honour left not just in the UPA but also the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, and the man who leads our country.

— Cynthia Reilly

Mumbai

Disproportional

• This is about T.R. Andhyarujina’s ‘Acquired immunity syndrome’. If “MPs are shielded from bribery investigations by a regrettable judgement”, such worthies can be tackled through the “disproportionate assets” route, and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram can, through his income tax sleuths, investigate those who ended up rich after the latest trust vote. Why should we not at least collect what is due to the exchequer from those who got mind-boggling moneys, trading their “valuable votes”?

— M.K.D. Prasada Rao

Ghaziabad

After violence, Ladakh talks back on track, resume Oct 22

India3 hr ago

Ladakh civil society groups will resume talks with the Centre on October 22, following a judicial probe into the September 24 violence in Leh ordered by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The probe will be conducted by a former Supreme Court judge, while the meeting will address Ladakh's demands for statehood and Sixth Schedule status.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS