Letters to the editor

Conscience vote again8226; PRATAP Bhanu Mehta8217;s article, 8216;All the president8217;s voters8217; IE, June 15, is a fine analysis...

Conscience vote again

8226; PRATAP Bhanu Mehta8217;s article, 8216;All the president8217;s voters8217; IE, June 15, is a fine analysis of the fragile political system and how legislators cutting across party lines owe a duty to the nation to vote according to their conscience to elect a president of stature. With coalition governments coming under increasing pressure from conflicting interests, the president will have a key constitutional role to play in the days to come. Such a role can come from a mature president and not by a party nominee.

As for Congress legislators, conscience voting is not alien to their culture either. Indira Gandhi, after the Congress nomination of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy for the president, appealed for a conscience vote in favour of V.V. Giri. Will history repeat itself in the interests of nation now?

8212; V. N. Ramachandran, Vadodara

Night of religionists

8226; INDIANS should be proud that Salman Rushdie has been knighted. He is an Indian, lived his formative years in Bombay and went to England to seek better career prospects like many other Indians. Rushdie is a genius. He created his own idiom, blended realism and fantasy in his novels and was bold enough to take up issues skirted by other writers. Orthodox Muslims have every right to protest if they feel hurt, but resorting to violence is suicidal. This will also strengthen the feeling that Islam is an intolerant religion. If Rushdie were as 8220;satanic8221; as the Muslim religionists portray him, he must be laughing at the antics of his enemies who waste their energy against a single person through violent demonstrations that lead to deaths and destruction for Muslims all over the world.

8212; N. Kunju Delhi

South celluloid

8226; AS a non-resident Chennai-ite and as someone who has seen all the films that your writer, Jaya Menon, calls 8220;different8221; 8216;What Rajni can8217;t8217;, The Sunday Express, June 24, may I remind her that all of them have a commercial peg 8212; either violence, westernisation, comedy or just cricket. Exceptions there are. Sringaram, which has been deemed a classic, is yet to bereleased. When it does get released, that would be the real test for 8216;different8217; audiences.

8212; Sulochana Hegde Bangalore

Maya8217;s crores

8226; MAYAWATI declared assets worth Rs 52 crore at the time of filing her nomination. It8217;s strange that no concerned citizen seems interested in questioning how the wealth was amassed. In this case, the UPA can8217;t do anything, as they are morally bound to her for her support to Pratibha Patil8217;s candidature. Even if someone goes to the courts for directions, little will come of it. What, after all, emerged in the court-directed investigations into Lalu8217;s assets? Given this trend, only the so-called champions of the poor will be amassing wealth. The poor will remain poor.

8212; N.N. Srivastava, New Delhi