Letters to the editor

— R.P. Subramanian Delhi

Dopey vignette

• SEVEN prime suspects and alleged drug peddlers were behind arranging a rave party at a farm in Donje village on Sinhagad Road, about 30 km from Pune, where as many as 280 young men and women in their early 20s were nabbed by the Pune rural police in the wee hours of Sunday for allegedly consuming drugs. Seven bottles of phenylfine hydrochloride, two-and-half kilo of marijuana (ganja), 100 gm of hashish, beer cans, cigarettes, music systems, 45 cars, 29 two-wheelers and an unspecified number of mobile phones were seized from the spot.

The badminton hall at the Pune rural police headquarters at Pashan was converted into a court room, as transporting so many to the Shivajinagar court was difficult. Among those arrested were BPO and IT companies employees, children of affluent businessmen, air hostesses and college students. It is really painful to see where our young generation is headed. I was more amazed and rather pained to find the feedback of their parents, who had come down all the way to rescue their children with the help of veteran lawyers and were seen justifying their behaviour.

— Md Ziyaullah Khan Pune

Price and defeat

• AS common belief that the Congress’ defeat in Punjab and Uttarakhand is nothing but the expression of the common man’s anguish over the price rise (‘Sonia verdict: A lot more to defeat than just price rise’, IE, March 7), and the Congress president conceded that inflation might be one of the reason for these “disappointing” results and pointed a finger at her party leaders for failing to rise above individual ambitions for larger party objectives. The Congress should not forget that the last Lok Sabha elections saw the NDA’s defeat, despite its good performance on the economic front.

— B.K.Chatterjee Faridabad

Star power?

• AS expected, John McCain has entered the US presidential race. McCain has the right credentials for the job — he is a war hero, he has an agenda for the country that differs from the Bush doctrine, he is not seen as very partisan, and in fact many Republicans do not trust him because he seems to think like a Democrat. But it is precisely these points that appeal to Democrats, that earn him the wrath of the Republican party. In the race for the nomination, it seems Rudy Guilani has a better chance than McCain — although for both, their age and health profile will go against them. It seems unlikely that the Republicans will retain control of the White House in 2008 unless they too get some star candidates like Hillary and Obama to the fray.

— Rifq Sarao, New Delhi