Will and vision

8226; An era of darkness has ended with Laloo, and a new dawn is awaited. But the new beginning i...

8226; An era of darkness has ended with Laloo, and a new dawn is awaited. But the new beginning is not going to be easy. The new CM doesn8217;t have anything to start with. No infrastructure, no peace, no money. He has only got his will, vision and the people8217;s hope to move ahead. I hope that he will rise to the occasion leaving behind caste-based petty politics and work for society as a whole.

8212; Udipta Gupta Bangalore

The real story

8226; I was delighted by the Bihar election results. But even a diehard Jan Sangh supporter like me has not failed to note some important pointers. The RJD lost a very small percentage of votes. The Congress votes registered a mild increase from February. Elections are definitely far more than arithmetic but there is no doubt that if the Congress had aligned with the RJD in February, Laloo would have won at that time. This, despite ruling and criminalising the state for 15 years. The media wants us all to believe that people vote not on caste but on performance. But the facts don8217;t entirely prove this contention.

8212; Manmath Deshpande Nagpur

Sena8217;s mimics

8226; The Shiv Sena is one organisation that has, in the past, done a great amount of work for Maharashtrians in Mumbai. Among other things, it provided low cost patient care to the needy it has the highest number of ambulances run by a political party and eliminated Communist-led trade unions from most industries in Maharashtra leading to a more balanced stand in labour disputes. Shiv Sena was the first to highlight Mumbai problems vis-a-vis migrants. This was considered very retrograde at that time but now most parties mimic the Sena8217;s stand.

8212; Anand Phadke Pune

Two Senas

8226; Bal Thackeray8217;s double standards have been exposed now that nephew Raj has rebelled. In the past whenever Sena leaders rebelled, Bal Thackeray expelled them from the party. But now there is no action against Raj Thackeray. This proves that Bal Thackeray has different rules for family members and different rules for outsiders. This attitude has proved fatal for his party. All these years he criticised the Gandhi family for their dynasty politics forgetting that he was doing the same by anointing his son as party president, thereby ignoring many senior leaders who have sweated and worked for SS for more than 40 years. The division in Shiv Sena, when it happens, is not going to be beneficial for Mumbaikars. Now there will be two violent Senas instead of one.

8212; Amjad K. Maruf Noida

Well begun

8226; Sharad Pawar has begun well by giving Greg Chappell a free hand in decision making. Chappell is a professional and it is unwise to question and review every decision he makes. He will lose interest in Indian cricket if he is going to be hounded for every decision he takes.

8212; Harischandra Parasuram Mumbai

Why politicians?

8226; I have nothing against Sharad Power but I strongly believe that for the country8217;s sports development it is better if the sports chief is not a political person. All important positions in sports, art, and culture should be held by non-political persons.

8212; M. Kumar On e-mail