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This is an archive article published on June 7, 2010
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Opinion Not without them

The editorial ‘After the victory’ rightly said that Mamata Banerjee cannot wrest Bengal from the Left without acknowledging and enlisting the role of the Congress.

The Indian Express

June 7, 2010 12:07 AM IST First published on: Jun 7, 2010 at 12:07 AM IST

The editorial ‘After the victory’ (IE,June 4) rightly said that Mamata Banerjee cannot wrest Bengal from the Left without acknowledging and enlisting the role of the Congress. With the tally of 26 for Trinamool,18 for the Left Front and 7 for the Congress out of 81 municipalities,even Trinamool and Congress combined were left below the halfway mark. Had they fought the elections jointly,the results could have been better. Mamata’s success in the civic polls is being largely seen as the beginning of the end of over three decades of Left rule in West Bengal. However,Mamata alone may not be able to do it. She has to go with the Congress and act with maturity,consistency and understanding.

— M.C. Joshi

Lucknow

Mamata’s agenda

When I converted the headline ‘Red Rout’ (IE,June 4) into a text message it read “Red r out”. Well,Mamata Banerjee did it and everyone seems to be euphoric. But will this last as she is famous for her authoritative style? Her going all out with strikes and bandhs just to get her way is legendary. It’s said this clean sweep is the semi-final for next year’s assembly polls in West Bengal. Would Mamata bring in a lenient industrial policy given a chance? Or will it be that,like the Tatas,other industrial houses too would wish to relocate? Her silence on the Maoists doesn’t clear things,it’s sending frightening signals of a sympathetic approach towards this menace. So one wonders if this would be the case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire for the people of West Bengal?

— Roda D. Hakim

Baroda

At home

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We surely don’t need no education in the manner it’s being given to our kids in schools,state-run and private,despite all the failings spoken of unanimously by parents (‘We don’t need no education’,IE,June 3). Home education doesn’t necessarily mean that parents only must teach their own children. It means the freedom to get their children educated outside a conventional school. A parent therefore has the liberty to send his/her child to learn,say,mathematics from one person,geography from another,and Sanskrit from a third — who all,the parent trusts,are good in their respective subjects whether or not they possess a degree. In fact Right to Education includes the right to seek that education from any source. The modern American home schooling movement began,as the article says,in 1969. And over the last 41 years,it has become a great populist educational movement. Why,with about a pioneering 1000 or even 500 Indian believers in home schooling,should the same scenario be not possible in India? Obviously,some uniformity in home schooling would be helpful and Indian parents,surely,are intelligent enough to accept the necessary and desirable set of regulations.

— G.M. Paranjpe

Pune