Judiciary, our hope

• Your editorial, ‘Kalam’s conundrum’ (IE, November 11), raises the right ques...

• Your editorial, ‘Kalam’s conundrum’ (IE, November 11), raises the right question — why does the executive allow matters to reach the court? Only such actions of the executive that appear to be in violation of the law and the Constitution are challenged in the courts. In the present state of our parliamentary democracy—when principles and ethics are things of the past and even the law and constitutional provisions are shamelessly manipulated by the executive for vested interests—it is only the judiciary which can bring the executive to its senses.

— M.C. Joshi Lucknow

What about girls?

• This is with reference to Dhanraj Pillay’s article in the India Empowered section (IE, November 8). I’d like to remind Dhanraj Pillay that only when every Indian boy (and girl) is given a platform to show their skill in sports will India come closer to being empowered. Clearly, Pillay is either not aware of gender issues or he didn’t realise that semantics do matter. Either way, surely your editorial team could have given him some gyan? It’s disappointing that such a biased article was printed and that too on the front page as part of your ‘India Empowered’ series.

— Shirin Cooper Panjim

Honouring KRN

• The late president, K.R. Narayanan, rose above his Dalit background and went on to become our nation’s best diplomat as well as a president of the republic. Despite all the odds, he proved to us that no human being is either inferior or superior to any other human being. To honour President Narayanan’s achievements and his memory, our nation should eliminate the ungodly act of discrimination of any human being born in India on the grounds of caste, creed, race, religion and gender.

— Arvind Amin Delhi

Sorry legacy

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• K.R. Narayanan expresses some stark truths in his piece, ‘Only when the suppressed and the exploited begin to assert their rights and empower themselves’(IE, November 10). I think India is one of the few countries in the world which has taken conscious steps to correct the wrongs of history. But 5,000 years of practice, cannot be corrected in 50 years. What bothers me is the behaviour of those Dalits who have gained everything from the reservations policy and that of the so called Dalit leaders — who swear by B.R. Ambedkar in public. Their behaviour does not reflect any depth or morality. The questions then arises: why has there been no other Ambedkar, or someone who at least tried to emulate him? What have the tens of thousands of Dalit officers sitting in high positions done for their brothers and sisters, except use the Dalit tag for their own gains?

— Ashok Kumar Roorkee

Jingoism?

• West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee’s attempt to promote Sourav Ganguly (‘Who can prevent Sourav’s return: WB CM,’ IE, November 11) is a clear example of jingoism. In the past, several top players like Bishen Sigh Bedi and Mohinder Amarnath could not find a place in the team, but the Bengal CM never cared to speak up for them. This shows that Bhattacharjee is not worried about Team India as much as the reinstatement of a fellow Bengali.

— P.K. Jha St Cloud