Power ploy

• The rollbacks in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu signal a return to the politics of populism. The hesitant ...

• The rollbacks in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu signal a return to the politics of populism. The hesitant and halting steps towards power sector reforms and subsidy reduction have been retraced. In the days to come, more state governments could follow these leads and, if the statements from the Left are anything to go by, the Centre could as well.
Should this happen, the already high fiscal deficit will spiral out of control and the states’ finances, already parlous, will reach a point of no return. It is instructive that neither the Tamil Nadu chief minister nor her Andhra Pradesh counterpart has spoken of the financial implications of their largesse or how they propose to finance it. Right-thinking people (no pun intended) should look on these developments with grave foreboding. The country has to brace itself for a return to a regime of high taxes, higher levels of government borrowing and deficit financing, with consequent higher prices and interest rates.

— R. Sankar New Delhi

Inner strengths

• Few politicians follow their conscience, so Sonia Gandhi’s example is a great one. As the English authors of the book, The Perpetual Pessimist, put it, “It is by the goodness of God that we have in our country three unspeakably precious things: Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and ‘prudence’ never to practise either.”
Let us hope that this supreme sacrifice of Sonia Gandhi will help install in India a truly secular government in which one’s religion or ethnicity will never be a factor.

— Mahindar Singh New Delhi

Business as usual

• Now that the issue of the prime minister’s post has been solved, the chief and perhaps only issue today for the Congress-led government should be to provide a good, honest and stable administration, a government that is concerned with the public interest and not with the interests of the rulers. Opposition parties like the BJP should keep a watch on the government and criticise any bad policies initiated by the UPA.
Political parties supporting the Congress government should abide by definite principles and not indulge in any political bargaining. The opposition parties, especially the BJP, should see to it that discussions and opposition are based on conviction, not trivial issues.

— Amjad K. Maruf Mumbai

Prez vs PM

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• With reference to T.V.R. Shenoy’s article ‘It should be PM Sonia’ (IE, May 20), India does not have a presidential system. It is a parliamentary democracy, and people vote for parties, who are free to nominate their leaders. It is fair to say that the election results support Sonia Gandhi, but nothing obliges her to become prime minister, nor should anyone have had such an expectation. By Shenoy’s argument, prime ministers who take over mid-term — like Inder Gujral and Chandra Shekhar did in India or John Major in Britain — would be subverting the democratic mandate too.

— Rahul Siddharthan On e-mail

Truly brilliant
n It was a masterstroke indeed on the part of Sonia Gandhi (‘Sonia’s masterstroke’, IE, May 19). The NDA has let the nation down by invoking such a non-issue.

— Shashank Ranjan On e-mail

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

Statehood protest takes violent turn in Ladakh, BJP office set ablaze in Leh

India7 hr ago

Protests in Ladakh turned violent as students and youth organisations demanded statehood and Sixth Schedule status. Two elderly protesters fainted, prompting a shutdown call. A BJP office and security vehicle were set on fire. Activist Sonam Wangchuk urged for a peaceful approach. The demand for Sixth Schedule status is due to Ladakh's tribal-majority population and direct central administration.

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