Divine diktat

The BJP has managed to lose the sympathy of the people who helped them come to power in just a fortnight.

•The BJP has managed to lose the sympathy of the people who helped them come to power in just a fortnight. First, it was the party bigwigs throwing their weight around to get ministerial berths. Second, they clamoured for coveted portfolios, which was as unseemly as a fish market auction. Third, they shot farmers for asking for fertilisers. This government is now counting on help from the heavens to survive: the Honourable Minister Krishnaiah Chetty has commanded the gods to accept daily puja in all temples in the name of the chief minister and his worthy colleagues!

— P.V. Maiya

Bangalore

Big deal

• C. RAJA Mohan has well articulated Indian fears of a Obama victory (‘India’s Obama Problem,’ ). The present state of suspended animation in the nuclear agreement is more a fallout of our system of governance. We have yet to show the world that India has arrived on the international political stage. When our leaders are more into nitpicking over each other’s achievements and have obvious extra-territorial loyalties (yes, the communists), which nation will consider India a safe bet for a durable relationship? In fact, I am surprised that George W. Bush has held out so long against naysayers in the US despite the tottering UPA government, and if Obama tomorrow revises the pending nuclear deal to suit his ideology, so be it.

— P.G. Vijairaghavan

Pune

Contested canvas

• In your editorial, ‘State of the arts’, your reference to “increasingly vulnerable attack from narrow, bigoted interests — whether it is the Baroda incident or M.F. Husain’s long persecution” is against your own belief in the freedom of expression. Further, it is an insult to those critical of Husain’s paintings. These protesters are not narrow-minded or bigoted. What of the Muslims offended by the Danish cartoons of the Prophet? It is their right to exercise freedom of speech in condemning a mockery of their religious beliefs. So too do the Hindus have that right vis-a-vis Husain’s art.

— Kedarnath R. Aiyar

Mumbai

City gift

• You suggest in your editorial, ‘Mumbai mantra’ that Mumbai needs a more autonomous administration. Similar demands have been coming frequently in recent times, and some have seen success: the erstwhile state of Bombay was carved out of parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat; part of Punjab was portioned off as Haryana. There is a trend of demanding that the seat of governance should be closer home. This demand arises from a need for cultural identity and economic imperatives. Should the wealth of a state be allotted among regions on the basis of their contribution to the state, or on the basis of their needs?

— Siddhartha Mukherji

Pune