Who’s in denial?

• I agree with you that the BJP is in denial, but not in the sense in which you say it is in your editorial (IE, September 23). The party is in denial because it is still unable to assert its ideology on the basis of which it has come into existence. No individual is greater than ideology. If Advani is lonely today, he has himself to blame for his sorry state. The virus of power corrupted him absolutely. I think your paper should now stop being in denial and should understand the strength of RSS ideology and organisation.

— Shrinivas Deo Nasik

Labour’s value

• Apropos of Subroto Bagchi’s ‘When we begin to value those who do physical work’ (IE, September 24), until people’s labour is paid more or less equally, such disparities shouldn’t surprise us. Of course, if we talk about the equal worth of everybody’s labour, we would be accused of Marxism. But go to Madras and see how the domestic help dress sharply — a consequence of the self-respect movements of the Tamils and their movies that have given them a semblance of dignity by providing role models.

— S. Priyadarsini On e-mail

• I am deeply inspired by what Subroto Bagchi has to say. His talk to the class of IIM Bangalore, published on August 15, 2004 in the Indian Express titled ‘Go kiss the world’, impressed me so much that I have kept the clipping and read it out to anybody and everybody I come across.

— Kishore Betrabet Pune

• I do not agree with Bagchi. It is the people he is wrongly sympathising with who need to change their mindset. If a taxi driver or an auto driver or a truck driver does not want to dress neatly and well, if the municipality worker does not wear the uniform given to him with washing allowances, they have only themselves to blame.

— Kedarnath Aiyar Mumbai

Let’s do it

• What a beautiful statement of truth written by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in your ‘India Empowered’ series (IE, September 19)! His words make me determined that we must take the necessary measures to produce a peaceful planet today, and not tomorrow. No other work is of greater importance!

— Mesha Bahrou Detroit

Poverty of names

• The IT park in Chandigarh recently inaugurated by the PM is named the ‘Rajiv Gandhi IT park’. It would have been in the fitness of things if this IT park had been named after Kalpna Chawla or some other renowned scientist or even a Kargil war hero. While a street in the US could be named as the Kalpna Chawla street, our government cannot think beyond the Gandhi family.

— B.N. Anand Florence