Letters to the editor

Others, too• THIS refers to the report, ‘Untouchability like apartheid, says PM...’ (IE, December 28). How very true. But wil...

Others, too

• THIS refers to the report, ‘Untouchability like apartheid, says PM…’ (IE, December 28). How very true. But will the PM enlighten us, and particularly the so-called victims of untouchability, on what the Congress party did for five decades when it was in power at the Centre and in almost all the states? Will he also tell the country why his government is hellbent on dividing the country along castes lines, by bringing quotas for various castes and religions? May the aam aadmi also know what happened to secularism, and the eradication of caste system — agendas which his party professed to espouse? The PM says the Jains and Sikhs have done better than others. So what action is being contemplated about the others? Sachar Committee report has come in very handy in view of the state elections. Why not appoint such committees for all the other minorities, in all sincerity, if the aim is to carry everyone along? Politicians are fully aware that quotas have failed the poor but has benefited politicians.

— Behram Aga, Mumbai

Media sermons

• WE read about the difference in laws for the rich and the poor, as explained by the media. We are told that the police ignored the complaints about the missing children in Noida on account of the political links or economic status of the complainants. Well, what about the media? Had it taken up the matter even after, say, 10 kids were murdered, it could have gone some way in saving another 25 lives. Did it even know of the incidents? So you cannot really call the police pot black because you are the kettle.

— T.R. Ramaswami, Mumbai

A lawless pit

Story continues below this ad

• THE law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh under Mulayam Singh Yadav has deteriorated. The Noida outrage only goes to highlight this. In fact, the situation is the same all over India. The Congress-led central government and the state governments of UP under Mulayam Singh and of Bihar (indirectly) under Lalu Yadav (until recently) have never given any importance to law and order but only to vote-bank politics and policies. How can India become a developed country under such circumstances?

— Hansraj Bhat, Mumbai

Goa, going, gone

• I WOULD like to live long enough to at least be able to attend the last rites of the Goa Regional Plan 2011 (‘Don’t do to Goa what rest of India has suffered’, IE, December 20). With news that the Al-Qaeda has plans to make a festive strike on Goa, I decided to spend the Christmas week at Mumbai. Since Mumbai continues to be dug out, with trenches all over, it could prove a more secure hideout in case of a terrorist strike! Anyway, it is rightly said that the permanent damage caused by the mafia currently ruling Goa is much more than what any terrorist outfit can achieve. The sooner the current 40 MLAs holding Goa to ransom depart, the better.

— Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar