Letters to the editor

The headline, 8216;Heir looms8217; was appropriate as indeed the contents of Varghese K. George8217;s article...

Dynasty above all

8226;The headline, 8216;Heir looms8217; was appropriate as indeed the contents of Varghese K. George8217;s article. Look at the Congress dynasty8217;s impudence. If Indira Gandhi as Congress president in 1959 could knock out the first communist ministry of Kerala, Sanjay Gandhi as a simple nobody in the party but his mother8217;s darling, could exercise extra-constitutional power both during the Emergency of 1975, and again when the Congress Party came back to power in 1980. He could even have a say in the selection of the director of Intelligence Bureau, as the ex-RAW official, Shankaran Nair, writes in his book, The Rolling Stone That Gathered Moss. Then Rajiv Gandhi as PM dismisses the then foreign secretary during a press conference. And, now Rahul Gandhi, as a general secretary of the AICC, could have a Cabinet decision reversed 8212; the extension of NREGS, as if the government earlier failed to apply its mind in the matter.

8212; M. Ramakrishna and

M.N. Saudamini

Delhi

Dreaming in Nandi

8226;The armed entry of the CPM cadres into Nandigram is indeed comparable to the Congress Party unleashing its goons after Indira Gandhi8217;s assassination and Narendra Modi letting his thugs run amuck during the post-Godhra riots. By endorsing his cadres who have actually looted the villagers and raped the women, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has in fact shown that he is in favour of such all-out hooliganism to silence his opponents. What a pity that he is an elected representative and a CM in a democratic country like India. With people like him and Modi at the helm of power, the dream of India turning a superpower looks surreal. A democratic country whose government cannot protect its own citizens and justifies atrocities against them for its own obnoxious political ambitions, had better not see such superpower dreams.

8212; Deepak Joshi

Mumbai

Deal debate

8226;As mentioned in your editorial, 8216;Winter thaw8217;, 23 members of the country8217;s strategic and scientific community had written an open letter to MPs that the nuclear deal is best for the country. If a survey were conducted, a large majority of highly educated Indians would also support the deal. One wishes that the MPs could also for once keep national interest above party interests during the discussion in Parliament and vote accordingly.

8212; Dalip Singh Ghuman

Chandigarh

Blaster8217;s jinx

8226;A Century has again eluded master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. However, it appears that media and cricket fans are unduly perturbed by the situation. Tendulkar already holds the world record for the maximum number of ODI centuries. We may call it bad luck or misfortune, but he has also created a record of sorts by getting out after crossing 90 runs on seven occasions. There are similar examples in the history of world sports. Sergei Bubka, who won six consecutive world championships from 1983 to 1997 in pole vault and also beat the record for a record number of 35 times, could win only a single Olympic gold medal. Similarly, Ron Clarke, the legendary Australian long-distance runner, who was the world record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres and who set 17 world records could not win a single Olympic gold. Sachin will be remembered by future generations not only for his spectacular and scintillating performances but also for missing century after century by the narrowest margins!

8212; E.M. Adithyan

Edapal, Kerala