Opinion Letters to the editor: Lessons to learn

This refers to the thought-provoking article, ‘Who’s afraid of Neville Maxwell?’ by Shekhar Gupta (IE, March 22).

March 25, 2014 12:48 AM IST First published on: Mar 25, 2014 at 12:48 AM IST

Lessons to learn

This refers to the thought-provoking article, ‘Who’s afraid of Neville Maxwell?’ by Shekhar Gupta (IE, March 22). It is certainly shameful that successive governments, both Congress and BJP, have kept the blunders of the 1962 Indo-China war under wraps for over half a century now. The Henderson Brooks report is an eye-opening document. It mentions the follies and blunders committed by our military and civilian rulers in dealing with the Chinese in 1962. The report must be made public so that lessons can be learnt. Let’s hope that the next government makes the report public in the national interest.
— R.K. Kapoor
Chandigarh

The specialists
There are many jobs for which a specialist is required — a trained doctor to treat disease, a trained pilot to fly a plane, a trained lawyer to fight a court case, and so on. However, from the way in which party tickets for the Lok Sabha election are being given
to famous faces and personalities, people who were never involved in electoral politics or the inner functioning of parties, it seems that specialisation and experience count for little in politics. Moreover, loyal workers who support their political parties at the cost of professional advancement, raise funds and publicity by canvassing door-to-door, and untiringly work to make party events such as rallies a success, have been ignored. Also, parties would be well advised not to give politicians who lose the Lok Sabha elections tickets to the Rajya Sabha. Such a move would be against the decision of the people.
— Sajjan Singh
Asansol

Graft and beyond

This refers to ‘Graft issue blown out of proportion: Pitroda’ (IE, March 24). It is quite saddening to find educated elites making utterly biased and irresponsible statements to justify the misdeeds of those whom they favour. Sam Pitroda’s remark that “…corruption is a way of life. Everybody is corrupt, US is corrupt, China is corrupt, Japan is corrupt” exposes the dearth of alibis in his armoury to defend
the government.
— H. Mathilakath
Navi Mumbai

A gerontocracy

There are several elderly leaders in political parties who have spent large parts of their lives in politics. Yet, they continue to hanker after power and position. The Congress vice president often talks about empowering the youth and women, but most of his party’s candidates are middle aged or older. The same is true for the BJP. There is no other country that has as aged a polity as we do. We are truly a gerontocracy.
— S.M. Nanjappa
Bangalore