• Friday is Islam’s "holy day" but is not meant to be a holiday from work (‘Mulayam Draws Up a Friday Timetable’, IE, February 20). Muslims are encouraged to work after the mandatory noon congregational prayers on Fridays. As a matter of fact in the Holy Qur’an Allah commands: "And when the prayer (Friday prayer) is finished, then may ye disperse through the land, And seek of the bounty of Allah." When I was in school, on most Fridays I had to endure the cane of the school principal for being a few minutes late during the lunch hour as the mosque was at a distance. Instead of closing the school at noon, the UP government is well advised to increase the time given for lunch hour. — Mohd. Ayub Ali Khan On e-mail • Many of us know that left to itself, the BJP would bring back Hindutva. But what about the others? Look at Mulayam’s decree that schools will be closed early on Fridays. No Muslim demanded this, no one ever fought and sacrificed their lives for it, but it was done. What would you call it, Muslimtva? Look at Congress, Dr. Ambedkar himself did not want the reservation beyond 10 years, but it was extended again and again. Votetva? Mahatma Gandhi wanted the Congress to be dissolved if they had political ambitions, and wanted democracy in the real sense. Who honoured him? They rode on the sentiments of the masses in order to enjoy the spoils of power. Congresstva? — Narendra On e-mail • Mulayam ji, here is a tip for you. Order schools closed on Mondays for Shiv bhakts, Tuesdays for Hanuman bhakts, Thursdays for Vishnu bhakts, Friday for Santoshi Mata bhakts, and Wednesdays for the remaining Hindus. You are bound to get 100 per cent of the Muslim vote and Hindu vote. How can you go wrong? — Hari Dayal On e-mail • The UP government’s bizarre order is one more instance of the communal face of the secular politicians. Criticism of the politically motivated order by Syed Shahabuddin and other Muslim leaders and the statement of Mohd. Arif Khan about the Congress and Gujarat are encouraging. It seems even the Muslim leaders now appear to be feeling the pinch and find it necessary to take on the politicians and parties exploiting the community to meet their political ends. — M.C. Joshi Lucknow Apology and more • In ‘Shooting the Bofors blank’ (IE, February 18) Mani Shankar Aiyar rightly reminded us of a shameful past of many who tainted Rajiv Gandhi’s name while he was alive and even in death. A simple apology from these unsavoury and slippery characters that Aiyar has asked for is just not good enough. If we Indians profess to be a fair minded people then natural justice requires that we should not only unreservedly condemn those who indulged in character assassination through cooked up stories but also demand the permanent removal of these cancerous cells of politics from public life. This would help in cleansing politics. — Paramjit Bahia On e-mail
