Letters To The Editor

Faith in artha8226; In Faith Line 8216;From Light to Wealth8217;, IE, October 23, Gautam Chikermane has rightly emphasised that it is t...

Faith in artha

8226; In Faith Line 8216;From Light to Wealth8217;, IE, October 23, Gautam Chikermane has rightly emphasised that it is the spirit and use of wealth that matter. But he does not distinguish between different forms of wealth. With tongue in cheek, he boldly states that for the acquisition of money one needs the force of Lakshmi or Kuber, not the blessings of Rama and Krishna. However, the Indian ethos does not dichotomise 8216;dharma and artha8217;, Vishnu and Lakshmi, or Shiva and Kuber. It is the blind and life-negating pursuit of money and the compromising of ethics and equity that was objected to by our rishis and saints. The tragedy is that people, in their current rush to become billionaires, utterly neglect the daridra-narayana, a term coined by Swami Vivekananda. Dharma 8212; the values of the truth, love and compassion 8212; must take precedence over artha and kama.

8212; Ashok D.B. Vaidya Mumbai

Advani8217;s absence

8226; Please refer to a news report, 8216;Advani angry for not being kept in the loop8217; IE, October 28 in your newspaper. I wish to bring certain facts to your notice to set the record straight. Advani8217;s absence from the meeting was known in advance to me and the BJP president, Rajnath Singh. The latter had informed the office-bearers about Advani8217;s inability to attend the meeting at the beginning because of his prior engagement with the Maldives foreign minister. There was no discussion on his absence. The willingness of RSS pracharaks to work in the BJP was known well in advance to all, including Advani. In fact, the suggestion to have some more full-timers was made during my tenure as president. This happens periodically and nothing more need be attributed in this regard. The RSS pracharaks were pre-scheduled to meet Advani over tea. No one, including Ananth Kumar, suggested at the meeting that we go to Advani8217;s house. There was no suggestion by me to postpone organisational elections.

8212; M. Venkaiah Naidu, MP New Delhi

Pradeep Kaushal replies: Advani8217;s unhappiness is common knowledge within the BJP. The Maldivian foreign minister8217;s appointment with him was over within minutes of the BJP office-bearers8217; meeting commencing. It went on for over two hours. Even after the meeting had begun, the people at party headquarters were busy calling Advani8217;s residence to see if he could still come. The deputation of RSS pracharaks to the BJP is indeed common practice, but such appointees are chosen after a mutual understanding is reached. This has never happened without Advani8217;s nod since the formation of the BJP.

Ananth Kumar made the suggestion to Rajnath Singh in the presence of several leaders, including Naidu and Sanjay Joshi. The BJP chief, however, chose to visit Advani8217;s alone.

Appeasement myth

8226; I am deeply grateful to Seema Chishti and The Indian Express for publishing well-researched articles related to Indian Muslims. The articles have brought to light the piteous condition of the Muslim community and has exposed the myth of appeasement and minority-ism. It has uncovered the talk-only attitude of all political parties, including the Congress, CPM, RJD, SP and others, who are known to garner the votes of Muslims all the time.

8212; Saleha Tahniyat Hyderabad

Correction

The article, 8216;Two Koreas too many8217; on our op-ed page IE, November 2 should have been credited to Ruchir Sharma. The writer8217;s photograph was wrong as well. We deeply regret the error.

8212; Editor