Mahajan remembered• Last year the Nagaland BJP had organised its golden jubilee programme and Pramod Mahajan came for the first time to Nagaland. He seemed to care so much for the people of the Northeast, and Nagaland in particular. He was a leader who was readily accepted by the people of the Northeast, and his untimely demise is a great loss.Oken Jeet Sandham, Kohima• We have lost one more young and efficient leader who had the leadership qualities to lead the nation. After former Rajiv Gandhi, Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot, Pramod Mahajan is one more youthful leader who has departed.Shishir Shirke, Mumbai• I don't know why Pramod Mahajan’s death disturbed me. I do not belong to his party. I think this is because of his relative youth and promise. I felt almost the same way when Madhavrao Scindia died.Ram, UAEMore reservations• This is with regard to the article, ‘Some thoughts, some reservations’, by Fali S. Nariman (IE, May 1). The principle of reservations is hinged upon what is referred to as “moral arbitrariness”. We seek to uplift backward classes at the cost of “merit” although: (i) the faults of our ancestors are not our faults; and (ii) those whom we seek to uplift were not the ones against whom the injustices have been perpetrated in the past. Perhaps this is the reason that we have not been able to eliminate the ‘reservation controversy’ from our hearts, as the author has suggested.Abhinav Chandrachud, MumbaiDividing India• How unfortunate for India that we have in Arjun Singh an HRD minister who thinks so small that “he has taken up the matter with the Congress leadership, arguing that people without an ideological commitment to the Congress were enjoying the fruits of Congress rule”. Having partitioned the subcontinent on similar ideological considerations, will Arjun Singh also like the non-Congress governments in the states to be treated as “untouchables”. By the same logic Arjun Singh must not face or interact with the BJP MPs in Parliament, nor should any Congressman attend any social functions attended by persons associated with the RSS ideology. How many more divisions of the country do you want, Mr Arjun Singh?Inder Nath, VadodaraMany voices• The issue of reservations has highlighted the total disarray of views within the UPA government. First we had the HRD minister plumbing for reservations, then we had Kapil Sibal voicing his reservations over reservations, and now we have the Union finance minister coming out in favour of reservations. In all this rhetoric what signal does the lay person get? Will the PM please take a stand and see that his Cabinet talks in one voice?Roda D. Hakim, VadodaraRahul, howzzat?• Rahul Gandhi has remarked that he wants to transform India. Instead, it would be humungous if he can just ensure that the present rot does not spread. This will definitely transform him, if not India.Harischandra Parasuram, Mumbai
