Raj, in good part

Jaithirth rao8217;spiece, 8216;Requiem for the Raj8217; IE, August 15 may have touched a raw nerve in some persons who think the British Raj was an unmitigated disaster.

8226;JAITHIRTH RAO8217;S piece, 8216;Requiem for the Raj8217; IE, August 15 may have touched a raw nerve in some persons who think the British Raj was an unmitigated disaster. On balance, there were many positive sides to the British rule. The very fact that India is one administrative unit is all thanks to the Raj. The introduction of the English language and the work of many Orientalists are very significant. The fight for independence was launched by many people educated in England itself. Indian identity was shaped and cobbled together by the Raj, otherwise we would still have all sorts of satraps and militias roaming the countryside, fighting perpetually to establish their short-lived dominance. The laws and the Constitution, the free press and the independent judiciary, the vast infrastructure to uphold the rule of law 8212; all this was a legacy of the British. So, even as we celebrate our 60th anniversary of independence, we must not forget the good part of the British Raj.

8212; John Alexander

Nagpur

Parsee patriots

8226; APROPOS of the article, 8216;Ties That Bind 1857 and 19478217; IE, August 16, Amaresh Misra has appropriately brought to public notice how Captain T.B. Dadachandji refused to open fire on the 1942 Quit India movement protesters. When charged with disobedience, Dadachandji replied, 8220;I joined the Army to fight the Germans not kill my own countrymen.8221; He was not court-marshalled but allowed to resign and, according to Admiral Russi Gandhi8217;s research, who was ADC and close to Admiral Lord Mountbatten in 1947, Viceroy Linlithgow had reported the incident to Whitehall, and said very complimentary things about Parsees generally, but added that some were eccentric. The contribution of Parsees 8212; a minority community 8212; to this country through their observance of ethics and their role in the Armed Forces, especially after Partition, has been greater in proportion to their size and deserves recognition.

8212; Cmde retired Ranjit B. Rai

New Delhi

Explainer, any?8226; WHILE there is no dearth of people advising Muslims 8220;to first practise teachings of Islam in letter and spirit8221; Safiya Sameena of Vijaywada and Md Ziyaullah Khan of Pune, published in the 8216;Letters8217; column, none of them spells out precisely what these are, leading to much confusion. Would someone elucidate, for the benefit of momin and kafir alike, the 8220;letter and spirit8221; of Islam which such solicitations aim to endorse?

8212; B. C. Patwardhan

Pune

Kashmir tinker

8226; n THE letter by Dalip Singh Ghuman 8216;Third partition8217;, IE, August 16, was shockingly naive. Knowing the very narrow base of these opinion polls, how can any right-thinking person treat them as gospel truth? If these polls are so conclusive, shouldn8217;t we disband legislatures and institutionalise pollsters as our new messiahs? Has Ghuman given any thought to the grave implications of his proposed 8220;third partition8221;? He has suggested 8220;joint overseeing8221; of the conduct of elections in the Valley for ten years by India and Pakistan. What kind of an unreal world is he living in? What has happened to the Indo-Pak joint mechanism to tackle terrorism? Does he know how the Muslim League cabinet ministers subverted the interim government led by Jawaharlal Nehru, on the eve of the Partition? What makes him so confident that the USA would not play strategic games in Kashmir to serve its own global security interests?

8212; M. Ratan

New Delhi