Opinion Held to ransom

—Ved Guliani,Hisar

Under pressure

THIS refers to ‘Corrigendum’ (IE,May 8). The rollbacks announced by the finance minister are the result of capitulation to powerful lobbies. The FIIs are free to bring in and take out money,hence they do not add to real growth. The nation needs dollar inflow with a lock-in arrangement which will add to growth.

— N. Ramamurthy

Chennai

Cloud of distrust

APROPOS ‘Badal Opposes NCTC,wants restructuring of Constitution’ (IE,May 5),the root cause for terrorism is religious bigotry. This has created anti-secular and anti-national sentiments among some people. If Badal wishes to fight terror,what are his views on Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale being termed a “martyr of the Sikh qaum”? At the NCTC meeting,Badal talked about national consensus and coordination between the Centre and the states. It sounds like a sham.

— Gyanendra

Mohali

THE Badals like to project themselves as messiahs of the poor. But the appalling condition of the state’s exchequer does not bother them. They waste time on suggestions to restructure the Constitution,when they should really be concerned about solving the problems that besiege Punjab,such as a poor state education system,power shortage and drug trafficking.

— K.K. Khosla

Ludhiana

Sister act

APROPOS ‘When didi met didi’ (IE,May 9),we should not read too much into the meeting between Mamata Banerjee and Hillary Clinton. The latter met leaders from various parties to gauge the political climate in India. The contradictory statements on whether FDI had been discussed between the two leaders reflect a lack of consensus.

— Hema

Langeri

WITH reference to ‘Hillary,Mamata discussed FDI in retail,says US’ (IE,May 8),the meeting between Clinton and Banerjee raises a question of propriety. Just because Kolkata is nearer to Dhaka than New Delhi it does not mean the US secretary of state should rush to woo the West Bengal CM even before calling on India’s PM and on her counterpart.

— V. Subramanyan

Dombivli