Letters To The Editor

Restraint is key• The Vadodara violence could have been avoided with some adroitness and restraint on both sides (‘The scared, the...

Restraint is key

• The Vadodara violence could have been avoided with some adroitness and restraint on both sides (‘The scared, the civic, the hollow’, IE, May 8). Those who were driven to frenzied reactions to the removal of a dargah may please be informed that, according to Sami Angawi, a Saudi expert on the region’s Islamic architecture, 1,400-year-old buildings from the early Islamic period risk being demolished to make way for high-rise towers for Muslims performing the annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest shrine. As estimated by Angawi, over the past 50 years at least 300 historical buildings had been levelled in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

— Kay Shiv, New Delhi

A ruse for votes

• With reference to the recent controversy on reservations, I would like to point out that reservations are important, but even more important is their effective implementation. The issue of reservations have always been a controversial one. It seems that the policy which the government had initiated for a good cause has had its value diluted over the years. It has slowly but surely assumed the form of a vote-garnering initiative. Though it must be conceded honestly that reservations are indeed an important plank to improve the lot of those who were oppressed for centuries, this must not mean that political parties are at liberty to act in ways more suited to short-sighted electoral gains rather than the general improvement of the targeted communities.

— Vinod C. Dixit, Ahmedabad

Remove the cream

• As a solution to the row over quotas, here’s a humble suggestion from an 18-year-old college student: strike out — without hesitation — the “creamy” layer from the list of beneficiaries and I am sure the matter will be settled peacefully and for all time.

— Deep Banerjee, New Delhi

Nation as target

• There may be ‘Several targets for Arjun’s broken arrow’(IE,‘Power Play’, May 5), but ironically the sole victim is the nation itself. It is most unfortunate that politicians are bent on destroying the nation as they act out of their own selfish motives. The sacrifice of merit on the altar of the vote-bank politics has played havoc with the nation. Now when India is on the threshold of becoming a super power, it is very necessary that caste-based reservations are abolished.

— A.K. Sharma, Chandigarh

Pramod as PM?

• Kumar Ketkar, in the very first sentence in his article, ‘The BJP’s alchemist’ (IE, May 4), states that “Pramod Mahajan believed that he was destined to be the prime minister”. This is baseless. The fact is that others called Mahajan the “would-be prime minister” because of his many merits.

— K.G. Acharya, Mumbai

Tax them, not us

• The CBI, after raiding several properties of ex-Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala, found that he had amassed wealth and properties to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore. Instead of taxing and targeting the salaried and middle classes, the FM and the government should focus on commissioners, superintendents, government officials and elite politicians across the country.

— S. Krishna Kumar, Mumbai