Find the centre

8226; Politicians take the blame for defeats and reverses after the elections but they do not try to analyse t...

8226; Politicians take the blame for defeats and reverses after the elections but they do not try to analyse the causes for the defeat. Overall, the attitude of the BJP/NDA after the Lok Sabha elections has been very negative. This can be seen from their activities in disrupting Parliament often and opposing the government for the sake of opposition. This is the time for the BJP to junk the narrow ideology of Hindutva and rectify the party8217;s image in the eyes of the voters.

8212; Divyesh Raythatha Dover

Third choice

8226; Going by the recent Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly elections, it is clear that the electorate is bound to feel the absence of a third alternative in the future. With the Congress and the BJP having emerged as the two major political parties and a similar pattern observed in most states with regional parties aligned to the one or the other, what the people are doing is to change alliances every term. A third alternative is essential in the Indian polity; otherwise political parties will simply continue to play musical chairs and occupy the seat of power by turns.

8212; C. Venkatsubramanian Mumbai

Linguistic politics

8226; I do not agree with K.S. Sudershan 8216;Nehru8217;s Western ideas hit progress, says RSS8217;, IE, October 25. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was a most far-sighted statesman. He knew that even if he had not agreed to a linguistic division of the states, it would ultimately have come, perhaps after some conflict and bloodshed. That would have left a legacy of hostility between our linguistic groups. He wisely avoided it and re-organised the states along linguistic lines.

8212; Rajam Gopalan On e-mail

Left without empire

8226; The article 8216;The Right of the Left8217; IE, October 23 rightly points to the lack of direction and the confused priorities of Indian Leftists. It is high time our comrades attuned their policies and actions to the changed international milieu. For one thing, the Soviet Union 8212; which had served as the guiding force for the Leftists 8212; has been relegated to the dustbin of history. Also, economic pragmatism and plurality of representation at the Centre have weakened the essential absolutism of communism. Perhaps the only refuge that the Communists now take is in the idea of 8220;piecemeal engineering8221;. As propounded by Karl Popper, it means that societal changes will have to be gradual and incremental. Gone are the days when rains in the erstwhile Soviet Union caused umbrellas to open up here.

8212; Nimesh Patel Porbandar

Runs and excuses

8226; Given V.V.S. Laxman8217;s recent Test innings, it is difficult to hope that he will produce the Calcutta 2001 kind of magic at Nagpur or in Mumbai. In fact, given the poor form of other top Indian batsmen, perhaps a new rule may be proposed. If someone is unable to register a big score for three consecutive innings, he must be rested and a youngster given a chance in his place.

8212; Padmanabha Udupa On e-mail