Iron lady

The manner in which Vasundhara Raje is handling the Gurjjar agitation is shameful in a democracy like India.

8226; The manner in which Vasundhara Raje is handling the Gurjjar agitation is shameful in a democracy like India. Statesmanship demands not seeing right and wrong but putting an end to the killings. But the CM seems to have descended to the level of the agitators, thus demeaning her office. Whether police firing was necessary or not is something an independent judicial enquiry should settle. Raje hasn8217;t put her best foot forward even in dealing with the Jaipur blasts in the context of Bangladeshi immigrants. She appears to be a dictator in the making. The need to be in the limelight often leads some inexperienced politicians to make a fool of themselves. Raje should learn her lessons or else the BJP central leadership should seek an alternative to her.

8212; S. Kamat

Goa

Meekly, in the end

8226; Pratap Bhanu Mehta8217;s 8216;Too many reservations8217;, teaches the unfortunate lesson that violence is often necessary to get attention. Before Independence, it used to be said that violent people are unfit for freedom, but if they are quiet then they don8217;t need freedom. A basic premise of management is examining the relative merits of conflicting viewpoints in case of a dispute. Accordingly, one must decide whether to make concessions or reject the demands made. It is suicidal to reject the demand initially, but later meekly surrender in the face of violence.

8212; P.S. Sundaram

New Delhi

Karnataka scaffold

8226; Although the BJP has emerged as the single-largest party in Karnataka, it hasn8217;t managed a simple majority and the survival of its government will be at the mercy of independent legislators.

Since their support is so crucial for the government, in situations such as the one in Karnataka, such legislators tend to hold the government to ransom. Therefore, the real winners in the just-concluded assembly polls in the state are the independents. Those who prop up the BJP government can look forward to reaping the maximum benefits of power.

8212; Hemant Kumar

Ambala

Fair play

8226; The Karnataka results demonstrate that Indian voters cannot be taken for granted. The people of Karnataka did not take the instability, that is, the betrayal by the JDS lightly. Thus they voted to preclude a repeat show by the JDS or anybody else. The governor should exercise his discretion judiciously and the BJP stand firm if the JDS and the Congress again try to form a coalition with the help of the independents. But with the likely support of five of the six independents, the BJP is near certain to form the government.

8212; S. Krishna Kumar

Dombilvi East