• This refers to Sudheendra Kulkarni’s Seeking social justice through US intervention. Activists advocating reservations in private sector and lobbying for foreign interference in the framing of India’s domestic policy deserve to be condemned in the strongest terms. Reservations have created a class among the backwards castes that is cornering the benefits, thus depriving the needy. Affirmative action does not only mean reservations; it also means providing the necessary inputs (financial aid, study material, coaching and so on) to backward castes to enable them to compete on merit. Sandeep B Nimbark Ahmedabad • I agree with Sudheendra Kulkarni. The prevalence of caste system is an annulment of our claim to be a nation. It’s against all civilized norms and dignity of the people of India. The time has come for Hindus to reflect on how they have allowed this tyranny to continue. Dalit empowerment is going to happen as caste system is breaking down. Either we let it happen without forming an alternative social order or we create a new one. Take the recent case of the Dalits of Gohana. They had TV and refrigerator in their houses. The murder of a Jat youth sparked violence and the Jats burnt down a Dalit locality. We must construct an alternative social structure, more suited to the times and to the genius of the people, or join the Gohana Jats in burning down Dalit aspirations.Pranav Sachdeva New Delhi • Tavleen Singh (Time to evict VIP tenants) gave the example of Russia and China ‘‘where the people lived in misery while the leaders lived like kings.’’ How many times did Tavleen Singh raise voice against VIP tenants during the NDA regime? Why was she silent when former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s new residence was renovated? Singh forgot the exceptions — Shabana Azmi and the former EC JBH Lyngdoh (who vacated on time).Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee Faridabad • All illegal occupants, irrespective of any party they belong to, should be shown the door like Buta Singh. The question is not of illegal occupancy, but whether large bungalows and plots are actually needed by the ministers to serve the country. Hundreds of crores are spent on renovating, constructing and buying huge bungalows and plots. The work these politicians do does not justify the expenditure.Amjad K. Maruf Mumba
