• Arun Jaitley’s opinion on tainted ministers is disingenuous to say the least (‘Manmohan is an honourable man’, IE, June 10). He defends Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharati, by maintaining that their offences emanated from a political agitation. However the charges against these leaders were not that they led a political agitation but that they incited mobs to demolish the Babri Masjid which is clearly an illegal and criminal act. — D. Parthasarathy On e-mail • Arun Jaitley was on the mark with his analysis on the tainted ministers. How can you trust these people who have been charged with looting public money? Laloo and his partymen had to step down from the Bihar government because of these allegations. They made off with more than Rs 1,000 crore of public money and we reward them with plum ministries where they can loot even more? — Ravi B.G. Bangalore • Manmohan Singh's choice as the prime minister by Sonia Gandhi raised the hope of clean governance of the country. However, the inclusion of criminals as ministers comes as a shock and shows that there is no hope for the country. — Devendra Sharma On e-mail NDA’s taint • Apropos of the article, ‘Vajpayee is an honourable man’ (IE, June 10) by Madan Bhatia, I read it with bewilderment. His basic premise is that since BJP had corrupt and charge-sheeted legislators the Congress has the moral right to keep charge-sheeted legislators. The Congress party does not realise that by including (and condoning) criminal elements in the the ruling party, it sets the stage for the next round of criminals to get into politics and finally dominate the politics. The author in his zeal to defend the Congress does not discuss this issue. The issue is not whether BJP or other predecessors had tainted personnel. It is whether the current government that is responsible for law and order and the well being of all Indians will rise to their responsibilities. — Prasanna Kumar On e-mail • Many thanks to the writer for calling a spade, a spade. It was getting sickening all the praise for Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a “statesman” and a great leader. The writer was completely correct in pointing out that he and his deputy, Advani, should be held accountable for the Gujarat carnage. — Yusuf Abdul-Rehman On e-mail • Vajpayee does not need a certificate from Congressmen who are sycophants of the Nehru-Gandhin dynasty. In any case, what was the Congress doing when Sikhs were being massacred in Delhi? — Rajamani On e-mail • The writer’s comparison of Hitler and Nazi party with BJP is neither fair nor in the interest of our nation. It would have been okay if he had suggested that the government was incompetent in handling the post-Godhra riots but to accuse it of sponsoring the killings is a very serious assertion. — N.J. Ramesh On e-mail Keep it going • It was because of the Express that the Gujarat crimes were brought to light and now there is hope of justice (‘Retrial begins, both states want to play the prosecution’, IE, June 8). Great job, please continue it. — Khanna Shree On e-mail
