Law and Minister

How can Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley advise the CBI against Mayawati’s arrest in the Taj Corridor Case? Let the CBI fo...

How can Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley advise the CBI against Mayawati’s arrest in the Taj Corridor Case? Let the CBI follow its stipulated course according to the law of the land. The law minister has repeatedly vouched that the CBI is an autonomous body not influenced by the government’s political gymnastics. Perhaps this statement does not hold true when the BJP is in its “election mode”. Jaitley is writing his own dictionary of “political terms” where meanings change with the change in political climate, and “autonomous” means “governed by the law minister”.

— F.S.K. Barar On e-mail

Foreign origins

• Apropos of the editorial, ‘Calling all parties’ (IE, January 29), I refer to the recent outbursts by Pramod Mahajan. He seems to forget that Omar Abdullah, who recently was handling the sensitive external affairs ministry in the NDA government, has a British mother! He also needs to be told that there are several Carribean and Asian nations which have or had Indians in very high positions. Such utterances by Mahajan bring the level of debate to that of a street brawl. Also our former president, K.R. Narayanan has a Burmese wife. In the Mahajan scheme of things, would that automatically exclude his children from contesting for the top post in future? Come on Mr Mahajan, please grow up and check all facts before you speak.

— S. Ramesh Mumbai

• I agree with Pramod Mahajan that PM must be person of 100 per cent Indian origin. No other country in the world accepts person of foreign origin as prime minister. If a person is of foreign origin than he can be manipulated by foreigners against the national interest. It is a shame that this is even an issue. Such a person must not even be considered. It is slavery embedded in the Indian psyche that is responsible for the stance of the shameless Congress party.

— Jitendra On e-mail

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• It is ridiculous to here such a immature statement from a top BJP politician. I am an ardent supporter of BJP but there is nothing wrong with Rahul and Priyanka occupying the top posts of the country if they are elected to them. In fact we need young prime ministers and presidents. The average age of a parliamentarian in developed countries is 50, while in India most MPs and ministers are in their 60’s or 70’s. No wonder they are unable to keep up with the times. Rahul and Priyanka make a difference.

— Bala On e-mail

• I fully endorse Ilesh Doshi’s views expressed in these columns on Pramod Mahajan’s perverse demand that Sonia Gandhi’s children cannot aspire for the prime ministership of India. He now says these are his personal views and not of the BJP. Either way, Mahajan can go take a walk. As a BJP supporter I am outraged and ashamed. Politics is a dirty game but it need not necessarily be played in a cess pool. Trust politicians like Mahajan to do exactly this.

— Satyen Mehta On e-mail

The right tone

• Excellent article (Sonia’s ‘K’ headache, IE, January 29). There’s a no nonsense about it and, at the same time, it has a sense of humour. If there has to be an analysis of our political parties, the analyst first has to tell himself that politicians cannot be taken too seriously.

— K.L. Narain On e-mail