Letters To The Editor

Rare nationalist8226; THIS refers to Shekhar Gupta8217;s 8216;Khan Saheb in Kashi8217; IE, August 26.There is no doubt that Ustad Bism...

Rare nationalist

8226; THIS refers to Shekhar Gupta8217;s 8216;Khan Saheb in Kashi8217; IE, August 26.There is no doubt that Ustad Bismillah Khan was a true nationalist and was much above narrow divisions of religions and communities. The shehnai for him was his means to reach the Almighty and the Almighty for him wasn8217;t Hindu or Muslim. Much as one would like to believe that he represented the ordinary Muslim on the street, he was but an exception. I do not agree with Gupta8217;s view that most Muslims identify with their ethnicities rather than their religion. I was born and brought up in Kashmir and studied at AMU which reflects a true representative sample of Indian Muslims and I have observed that most Muslims are Muslims first and anything else later.

8212; Rashneek Kher, New Delhi

Back-door artistes

8226; INDER MALHOTRA8217;S article, 8216;Non-resident parliamentarians8217; IE, August 23, was very well articulated. It would be expecting too much from other journalists and constitutional experts to make a strong case for the Supreme Court reviewing its ruling. The debate in the Constituent Assembly about the formation of a Council of States Rajya Sabha needs to be minutely examined again. The hon8217;ble judges of the Supreme Court are requested to also take into account the degeneration evident in the present composition of the Upper House. Back-door entries have been made easy for those who lack the ability to contest a Lok Sabha election, or who were defeated in the attempt.

8212; Inder Nath, New Delhi

Chalice of blood

8226; I REFER to the report, 8216;Quoting shlokas, Pranab defines Hinduism, Hindutva for BJP8217; IE, August 26. The report devotes a paragraph to how Pranab Mukherjee floored the House with his lesser known mastery of Hindu scriptures. But does he really know what the third chapter adhyaya of Shri Durga Saptashati means? He only mentioned how the Goddess 8220;drank once, and then again and again, in the midst of battle, her eyes bloodshot8230;8221; but not what She drank. Mukherjee must know this but didn8217;t quite state it. The fact is that She was offered by Kubera a drinking vessel to drink the blood of the demons, because every drop of blood of the slain demons that touched the ground would result in a new demon emerging. Since it would be impossible to kill all of them, She drank the blood before it would touch the ground. The senior Congress leader must not hurt the Hindu sentiments misquoting/misinterpreting this scripture.

8212; Surinder Kumar, Delhi

Views not right

8226; THIS refers to the column, 8216;Views from the right8217; by Manini Chatterjee. When it comes to views from the Left or even from the Urdu press, the practice seems to be to stick to the views expressed or published; but when it comes to the views from the right, they come garnished with secular comment. By doing this, the writer is burdening an already bored readership with an overdose of secularism. We may be 8216;intellectually challenged8217; but, believe me, the ordinary Indian is intelligent enough and should be left alone to make his own deductions from facts.

8212; Sanjeev Prabhakar, Jalandhar

Empty screen

8226; THE void left by the death of Hrishikesh Mukherjee cannot be filled. He made films with an Indian sensibility. Most of the characters and situations in his films were intrinsically Indian. He went on to guide a generation of young film producers, directors and music directors. They learnt a lot from his films and came up with work that captured the Indian sensibility, rather than merely aping Western films.

8212; Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi