Opinion For the record
Since my original note concerning Jaswant Singhs book appeared in The Indian Express....
•Since my original note concerning Jaswant Singhs book appeared in The Indian Express (Jaswant,not-so original,IE,September 1),allow me to add this clarification. Contrary to some reports in the media,I have not accused Mr Singh of large-scale plagiarism of the kind that has recently been charged and documented against Dr A.Q. Khan in Pakistan and Dr Gopi Chand Narang in India. My comments did not deal with the main text; they were limited to instances in the footnotes and endnotes of the book for which responsibility properly lay with Mr Singh and Mr Mehra. Both,I want to reiterate,have promptly done the right thing by acknowledging the lapses and promising to make amends.
C. M. Naim
National Fellow,Indian Institute of Advanced Study,Shimla
Peoples man
•Y.S.R. Reddy will undoubtedly be remembered for his focus,enthusiasm and dedication in all his endeavours,be it at the top echelons of government or at a local NGO (He got it done,IE,September 4). It was during his padayatra that the fate of ordinary citizens changed as he realised that issues affecting them would only be addressed through direct intervention. It was this that allowed him to win the popular mandate twice.
R. Narayanan Ghaziabad
• YSR made history for both himself and the Congress by becoming the first Congress CM to complete a full five-year term since 1956. It was his understanding and compassion for the poor that allowed him to retain power. The projects undertaken by him will carry on helping the state as he wisely invested in infrastructure and agriculture.
N.V.S.N. Murthy
Gandhi Nagar
Whos boss?
•There will be countless views on who bears responsibility for Partition (Surviving Ram and Lakshman,IE,September 2). However,one can say that there should be no ambiguity that Jinnah takes the lions share of the blame for the BJPs present troubles. A clear shake-up has been seen within the BJP; for much of its history its topmost leaders attempted to distance themselves from the Sangh Parivar. However,the situation is now very different and will no doubt be interesting to watch.
C.S. Pathak Pune
Making sense of it
•The BJPs ongoing controversies have been reduced to a playground fight. One wonders,are politicians representing the interests of their
constituents or are they more interested in protecting their positions? In the long run,if this is the nations main opposition party,its the democratic foundations of the state that suffer. If the BJP doesnt resolve its internal power struggles and initiate a sound succession plan for L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh,parliamentary politics in India will become useless.
Anand Gandhi
Vadodara
Share
