Letters To The Editor

— N. Kunju Delhi

• The recent controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code only shows how commonplace protests of this kind have become in India. It is high time we ignored them. Christian organisations opposed to the film do not realise they are only increasing the curiosity of viewers and inadvertently promoting the film. In any case, protests like these make a mockery of free speech. People who do not approve of a film have a simple option: don’t see it.

— Anand G. Mumbai

• With regard to the controversy over The Da Vinci Code, many in the media believe the Catholic Church is intolerant and seeks to curb freedom when it asks for a ban on the movie. The point is not about intolerance or freedom. Any true Christian would ask for a ban as their beloved Founder, whom they consider divine, is being portrayed as a sexual pervert who gave up his divine mission and fathered a child through one of his disciples. Not only Christians but all those who stand for religious freedom should not only condemn but call for a ban of all movies, publications or businesses that seek to trivialise other religions and hurt the religious sentiments of others for personal gain.

— Fr. A. Fernandes, Mumbai

• AS an Indian Christian myself I fail to understand the fuss about this film. First, it is fiction. Second, why should people always be afraid of new ideas? If one has so much faith in one’s own religion, why fear new questions? After all, if religion is all about finding the truth, then why should truth be afraid of questions? Christ himself asked people to change the way they thought. He replaced an old ideology in the form of the Old Testament with a New Testament. He was against hypocrisy. He was against the established religious leadership. He was against imposing his will upon others. Christ was about freedom, not bondage.

— Prashant Solomon, New Delhi

Investigate this

• As anticipated by some of your astute readers, the suspended additional chief secretary of Maharashtra, Ashok Khot, has been “allowed” to abscond from Delhi (‘Court declares Khot absconder’, IE, May 18). He could and should have been arrested in Bombay itself last Friday, when the Supreme Court turned down his revision plea. This calls for an Express-type investigation.

— Sameer Kumar, Mumbai

Closed chapter

• If Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were alive (although he would have been more than 100) and returned to his motherland, I’m sure he would have been most disappointed over this fuss over his disappearance. I cannot understand what difference it would make whether he died in a plane crash, or not. Apart from satiating the egos of some Forward Bloc leaders, such exercises help nobody. As you stated in the editorial,‘Ends of endings’ (IE, May 18), we must have no more inquiries into this issue at state expense.

— B.K. Chatterjee, Faridabad