Vote for moderation

success in these assembly elections mean? Does it mean that the

party’s Hindu nationalist paradigm is gaining acceptance? Or is

it an indicator that the promise of better governance by the BJP

is paying dividends? For now, one can give the benefit of the doubt

to the BJP and say that it’s the party’s shift to the governance

plank that holds the key. In spite of the polity being hostage to

caste equations, this nation has not given in to the rather tempting

rhetoric that Hindus are victims even though they are in a demographic

majority, etc.

— Vijay Kumar On e-mail

Course correction

The article ‘BJP has 3-course Cong lunch’ (IE, December 5) shows

the bankruptcy of thought and vision in India’s Grand Old Party.

It is a shame that the Congress has no one else to lead it except

a member of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

— Sumeet Toshniwal On e-mail

Just promises

At last some indication that the benefits of economic reforms can

actually swing votes (‘Politics after reform’, IE, December 6).

Yes, indeed you are right, economic reforms can swing votes. However,

during the last general election the BJP promised economic reforms.

The votes did swing towards the BJP, but what did they deliver to

the nation? Nothing. Not one party has an agenda to declare war

on poverty, ignorance, to deliver better health care, better quality

of drinking water and regular electricity. It’s not the government

that has improved the nation’s economy; economic growth has been

registered because of the combined efforts of industrialists, software

engineers, farmers and the business community at large within India.

— Arvind Amin On e-mail

Vajpayee touch

The most encouraging aspect of the BJP’s decisive victory in the

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assembly elections was

its complete renunciation of the hindutva plank. In the last leg

of its campaign, the central leadership had forced the VHP and Bajrang

Dal to retreat to the sidelines. It could be the BJP’s own confidence,

or the fear of international reproach for religious extremism, especially

for electoral exploitation, or a clear sign of the people’s disenchantment

with the lacklustre governance in Congress-ruled states. But Vajpayee’s

message to Sangh Parivar storm troopers to push issues of development

and governance turned out to be a clear winner — not only for the

BJP, but for secularism and democracy in India.

— Ghulam Muhammed Mumbai

The