Letters to the editor

Menon, up close8226; The piece on V.K. Krishna Menon 8216;Left out by history8217;, IE, March 6, takes us back to a bygone era. Jawahar...

Menon, up close

8226; The piece on V.K. Krishna Menon 8216;Left out by history8217;, IE, March 6, takes us back to a bygone era. Jawaharlal Nehru supported Krishna Menon to the hilt for inexplicable reasons, despite his widely-condemned abrasive nature. His jingoistic anti-American stance perhaps suited Nehru in those days of a child-like fascination for Communism. In fact, Menon8217;s detractors would even argue that it was his soft approach and mollycoddling of China that invited the 1962 attack. That attack left a permanent scar on the nation and Menon could not live it down.

While writing these lines, I am reminded of my visit to his house in Delhi in the early 8216;70s. I was a lowly deputy secretary in the Planning Commission then and I went along with a police officer from AP. Since both of us were from Menon8217;s place of birth, we thought it might be a good experience to meet such a well-known personality. Surprisingly, he was very cordial, although in a sullen mood. He looked, in fact, like a village rooster fallen on bad times. It was rather sad. His life and career had totally spun out of control, thanks largely to his own romantic delusions. But he revealed an unknown facet of his personality by making a very gracious gesture when we left. He came up to the car to see us off! We left him feeling sorry that a man with such a sharp intellect had been so badly betrayed by his own vanity.

8212; A. Prasad, Ahmedabad

Free market rules

8226; The editorial, 8216;Trafficking in chaos8217; IE, March 7, appeared biased against the aviation ministry. India is trying to move towards free market conditions. When there is an increase in demand, prices go up. All airlines elsewhere have extremely cheap fares during unearthly hours and high charges during peak hours. That is how it should be. Commercial air travellers, who have to keep schedules, pay more and non-commercial travellers would pay less and bear the inconvenience. Even in modern multiplexes, which are driven entirely by the law of demand and supply, the prices for movie tickets are higher during weekends and less during the rest of the week. The 8216;babus8217; are only following the rules of the free market.

8212; K. Raghu, Ahmedabad

Take it to EC

8226; I don8217;t understand the BJP8217;s demand for the constitution of a committee to look into the citizenship issue of M.K. Subba, a Congress MP 8216;NDA furore over Subba nationality8217;, IE, March 8. When Subba8217;s citizenship is under cloud, can8217;t the CEC, N. Gopalaswami, suo motu ask Subba to prove his citizenship, say within 48 hours? Without the clearance of the designated Election Commission official, the MP could not have contested an election in the first place. If indeed he is found to be a foreign citizen, he should be put behind bars along with the CBI official who cleared his citizenship. However, if Subba proves his credentials as an Indian citizen 8212; which I feel is doubtful 8212; his tormentors should be taken to task.

Committees and commissions have proved to be useless and time-consuming.

8212; K.P. Rajan Mumbai

Mahato message

8226; The brutal killing of JMM MP, Sunil Mahato, allegedly by banned Maoists, clearly highlights the growing dominance of Naxalites in different parts of our country. It is sad to see that some extremist outfits are spreading terror and fear among people with impunity in a democratic set-up like ours. It is high time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took a personal interest in this serious matter and initiated steps to root out the Naxal menace from our country.

8212; V. Rajesh, Mumbai