Past fears

Monsoon session

• The current monsoon session of the Lok Sabha will put Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on test. There are 42 legislative bills to be discussed, put to vote and enacted. The available time is very short — just 23 sittings in about a month. It will be a hard task for the Speaker to get members to attend work seriously. In the past we have witnessed rowdy scenes and walk-outs. It is time members realised the importance of time management and not indulge in petty issues like condemning the prime minister for what he said in Oxford in appreciation of British rule in India or did not say in US in criticism of the Bush administration. We will be watching!

— C.S. Pathak Aundh

• I agree with your editorial, ‘BJP needs ideas’ (IE, July 26), that BJP is making an issue of a non-issue by trying to censure the prime minster for his so called pro-British Raj comments in his Oxford address. In fact the full speech has been published by the Press and it is clear that the PM had indeed criticised British rule. He rightly acknowledged their positive contributions. BJP, which is still reeling under the controversial ‘Jinnah is secular’ remarks of L.K. Advani is trying to confuse the public.

— Harish H.V. Bangalore

Seeing Red

• The editorial,‘Red in the face’ (IE, July 25) refers to a typical occurrence in ‘God’s own country’. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for Kerala — in fact, we are not even in the tunnel! Various governments pat themselves on the high levels of social welfare, health, and so on, achieved by the state, but close their eyes to the huge public debt it bears.

— K.S.C. Nair Indianapolis

• The editorial, ‘Red in the face’, mentions a CAG report. But it was about the Kuttyadi extension scheme deal with SNC Lavalin. The LDF government had no connection with this project in any way. There was another deal for the renovation and modernisation of the hydel schemes of Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniar. This deal was signed by the UDF government.

— K.P. Sudhakaran Nair Thiruvananthapuram

Common threads

• The piece, ‘Cultural cousins’ by Renuka Narayanan (IE, July 25), made nice reading. Being a Kashmiri, I would like to add a bit more to what she has already written. Kashmir has had a great cultural association with ancient Persia. In fact, such was the influence of Persian on the Kashmiri language that one finds great similarity between the two in terms of the vocabulary. Apart from the language, there are similarities in the physical features of Kashmiris and Persians (now Iranians). I would second the demand for an Indian cultural centre at Tehran.

— Sumeet Dhar Pune