Letters To The Editor

The Idea Exchange8226; A 8216;CHAT SHOW8217; introduced by The Sunday Express is another interesting and welcome feather in your cap. As...

The Idea Exchange

8226; A 8216;CHAT SHOW8217; introduced by The Sunday Express is another interesting and welcome feather in your cap. As a long-time reader, I look forward to such unique features. The idea exchange with Iranian Ambassador S. Zargar Yaghoubi IE, September 24 should make our government and the English language media because of its vehement support to the Indo-US deal review their stands on the deal. There is weight in Yaghoubi8217;s contention that it speaks of 8220;US duplicity8221;. The reasons given by him are very convincing, specially when he discloses the fact that 8220;India8217;s new friend is the one which spoke of India8217;s disintegration some 15 years back.8221; Only a genuine friend can muster the courage to speak the bitter truth and we should thank Yaghoubi for speaking it. Agreed, the US is the 8220;Leader of the Free World8221;, as Tavleen Singh has just reminded us. Yet friends can also be found in places where there is a lack of freedom.

8212; G.S. Kulkarni, Delhi

8226; With regard to the headline chosen by The Indian Express for the Iranian ambassador8217;s talk to its journalists 8216;Let8217;s be pragmatic about issues we face in the world. So yes, the Indo-US deal is about double standards8217;, IE, September 24, it should be clarified that in the said interaction, though mentioning the double standards attitude of some western countries towards the NPT, the ambassador had observed that Iran respects Indian policy and deals on its nuclear programme. This statement has been also reiterated several times by high authorities in Iran.

8212; Saeid Asadi, Press Section

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, New Delhi

Recipe for chaos

8226; This is with regard to the recent report on the MP government allowing its employees to participate in RSS activities IE, September 15. The move may open a Pandora8217;s box, as other BJP state governments follow suit. It could also create a create a conflict between the Central government, led by the Congress, and these state governments and create hurdles in the implementation of national policies. If governments change at the Centre and the states, chaos will reign since mass transfers will be the order of the day. Given this, it is far better that government employees remain neutral and act without favouring any party, or being biased against them.

8212; Krishna Rajendra Patel, Narsinghpur

Hindi8217;s greatness

8226; This refers to Farah Baria8217;s 8216;The English channel8217; IE, September 22. Unfortunately, her advocacy of English, has ended up putting Hindi, the mother tongue of almost 50 crore people, in a bad light. If she doesn8217;t want her daughter to learn Hindi, so be it. But she has no right to disrespect Hindi and term it an alien infliction. In fact, our PM is currently trying to give Hindi the status of one of the official languages of the UN.

8212; Prabhakar Kandpal, New Delhi

Misleading sunset?

8226; Is the Osama riddle heading for a repeat Mahabharat episode? Recall how Krishna induced a sunset? The Kauravas were elated that Arjun will lay down his arms. He had vowed to kill Jayadrath before sundown of the 8216;morrow8217; after he heard that Abhimanyu had been 8216;felled8217;. Then Lord Krishna induced the sun to resurface and asked Arjun to complete his vow. Is the CIA now waiting to pounce?

8212; Mukund B. Kunte, New Delhi