Letters to the editor

after the governor8217;s decision, the UP CM tells us that she will decide her party8217;s stance on

the forthcoming presidential election!

This development also shows how the Centre has rendered the CBI into a toothless agency. While the case against Mayawati has been dropped, the Centre is determined to fix Mulayam Singh in a disproportionate assets case. This is not to project the former UP CM in a good light, but rather to

point out how institutions like the CBI are being used.

Sadly, if you were to scrutinise the governor8217;s CV, you would realise he had also served as director of the Intelligence Bureau. But through this action of his, he has reduced all investigative agencies, as well as the CVC, into a farce. In such a scenario it is difficult to

believe that this country is serious about fighting corruption, never mind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh8217;s speeches to the CII!

8212; M. Ramakrishna 038; M.N. Saudamini, New Delhi

In VC8217;s defence

8226;THIS is in defence Dr Manoj Soni, MS University vice-chancellor. This is not to judge the larger issue of obscenity or

otherwise of the paintings in question, nor to pass a judgment on the involvement of any other person or party. I believe the attack on Soni is unjustified. When the controversy broke out, he had assumed a conciliatory tone towards the student and his paintings, and certainly did not appear to be a 8220;moral policeman8221;. Later, as pressure grew to withdraw the paintings, his hand was forced. If he had not done so, the law and order situation in Vadodara would have deteriorated. His action was guided by the larger public interest. Unfortunately, he is painted as a BJP stooge. Soni is very much his own man. Once, when a teacher was roughed up by some students, he had the courage to cancel the students8217; union elections in 2005-2006.

As a reader in economics in the Faculty of Arts, MS University myself, my sympathies are also with the painter-student, Chandramohan. He was unnecessarily jailed and harassed.

8212; D.K. Oza Vadodara

Tired Front

8226; DISGRUNTLED parties who have got clobbered in the

elections and who know that it will be difficult for them to win any future elections, have come together to form the Third Front. Their common minimum programme would possibly be to hold each other8217;s hands and keep their heads above water lest they drown! These parties know for sure that they have few choices. They can neither join the Congress nor the BJP, so they have no option but to hang together!

8212; Harischandra Parasuram, Mumbai