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Journalism of Courage
8226; This is with reference to the article 8216;Come on, General8217; by K. Subrahmanyam IE, April 18. As a celebrated Pakistani columnist put it some time ago, 8220;Kashmir is a corps commanders8217; issue8221; and not a 8220;core8221; issue. However, General Pervez Musharraf appeared to be mellowing, as when he said this week that the problem is difficult to solve because of 8220;mutual intransigence8221;. But it must be admitted that the General is astride a tiger, having come to power through a coup d8217;etat, like his predecessors in uniform. While his hardliner colleagues in the services may not allow him to come to an understanding with the Indian leadership, he has also to reckon with American susceptibilities. Yet, while 8220;plebiscite8221;, as an idea, is as good as abandoned, and a re-drawing of the 8220;map8221; is not acceptable to us, as Subrahmanyam has put it so pithily, can the General put new ideas on the table for India?
8212; M.K.D. Prasada Rao On e-mail
Two to tango
8226; Such drives by politicians are nothing but populism aimed at appeasing the 8220;moral majority8221; 8216;Why Mr Minister needs to know dancer Temiko8217;, IE, April 19. Legalise dance bars, let them operate under the law. That way, the government has a flow of tax money, which can be used to regulate the industry. The Maharashtra government should concentrate on preventing child prostitution which sadly finds no mention from these 8220;moral politicians8221; and take steps to protect women from being exploited by the industry by giving them legal cover.
It is not the business of government to dictate morality to society.
8212; Vinay On e-mail
Whose morality?
8226; This refers to your editorial 8216;Maha Moralists8217; April 14. You have correctly diagnosed the virus. The real reason for banning dance bars in Mumbai is nothing to do with morality. It is more about collections that could increase as the bars go underground.
8212; S.C.N. Jatar Pune
In moderation
8226; While the RSS may attribute the failure of the BJP in last year8217;s general elections to deviation from Hindu fundamentalism, moderates are prone to put the debacle down to unsavoury alliances with the AIADMK and the TDP and the unnecessary targetting of Sonia Gandhi8217;s Italian birth. Yes, there are reasons why Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani need to step down, but the fissures between the BJP and RSS are not as ominous as Kumar Ketkar makes them out to be 8216;The Sudarshan Chakra8217;, IE, April 14.
8212; Ganesh S. Krishnan Minneapolis
Make way, Dada
8226; Saurav Ganguly needs to be replaced as captain of the Indian cricket team. He has lost his form. Of late, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag have been rescuing India from lost causes. They should be projected as captain and vice-captain, respectively. Ganguly may be retained as a batsman.
8212; M.H. Rao Kurnool
