• This refers to the report ‘Engineer lynched in UP .’. Is torture and violence resulting form political or personal motives less brutal and inhuman than the barbarism of terrorists? Despite 60 years of independence, we don’t seem to have made any sincere effort to punish criminals who enjoy political patronage. We’ve done precious little in guaranteeing citizens their rights. Autocratic and arrogant, the Uttar Pradesh CM, Mayawati, has scant regard for social norms and human dignity.The violent death of the PWD engineer, Manoj Gupta, allegedly at the behest of BSP MLA, Shekhar Tiwari, is more than just evidence of people’s enthusiasm for Mayawati’s birthday bash.And we also know the official response; we’ll soon be told that the law will take its own course and the guilty will be punished. But we won’t hazard a guess when, would we?— Ved GulianiHisar • The lynching of the engineer, M.K. Gupta, allegedly by Shekhar Tiwari, a BSP MLA, and his gang with the aim of extortion of funds to meet the budget for Mayawati’s birthday bash is murder most foul. It deserves exemplary punishment once responsibility is proven. One shudders to think of the presence of such politicians amongst Indian legislators. Mayawati and her administration may try to distance themselves from Tiwari but the fact remains that it is part of their damage control exercise. It is not a serious and sincere move to purge the party of criminals.— R.J. Khurana Bhopal Uncertain vote• As Seema Chishti argues, we don’t have any theories left to determine and understand voter behaviour and intent. The next general elections are going to be interesting indeed, not least because a lot of young and first-time voters will come out to vote. We must also bear in mind the average number of candidates contesting for each Lok Sabha seat and how that complicates matters. The image and agenda of every contestant matter. And if s/he be the incumbent, much depends on his/her work. Nevertheless, only fools would risk their reputation on predicting just which way individual voters will go.— Sunil DograNew Delhi India, divided• This refers to Pratap B. Mehta’s ‘The Antulay discord’. It was always going to be extremely difficult for India to de-emphasise identity like many European countries. Identity is simply too pronounced here. The British only helped enforce distinctions that had long begun to slip away. Pakistan was created on grounds of religion and we haven’t seen the last of that yet. Finally, the emergence of casteist and communal politics in India served to resuscitate our thousand divisions. The question of identity stems from these divisions that get a fresh lease of life every few years.— S.C. Panda Bhubaneswar
