Opinion Real heroes

In a democracy,public money builds statues to perpetuate the memory of national heroes. Only dictators infatuated with themselves...

The Indian Express

July 10, 2009 12:40 AM IST First published on: Jul 10, 2009 at 12:40 AM IST

 In a democracy,public money builds statues to perpetuate the memory of national heroes. Only dictators infatuated with themselves,or insecure enough,erect their own statues. Not withstanding her achievements,or the likelihood of her narcissism or insecurity,Mayawatis obsession with erecting her own statues violates the essence of democratic government. Had she stuck to Dalit icons such as Jotiba Phule,Savitri,Ambedkar,Jagjivan Ram,Kanshi Ram or K. Narayanan,nobody would have complained. Yet,while such statues would have reminded people of the Dalit struggle for social justice,the UP chief minister should know that the best tribute to heroes is to follow their example.

Y.G. Chouksey

Pune

 Kanchan Chandra seems to have a surprising soft corner for Mayawatis politics of self-glorification. Whether the statues are demolished or not at some future date is irrelevant. But theres no doubt that she has wasted huge amounts of taxpayers money. This is governance at its worst that she may pay dearly for in the next assembly elections. Also,thanks to her self-perpetuation spree,the country knows better just what kind of PM she would make.

M.K. Bajaj

Zirakpur

Tale of two ministers

 Mamata Banerjees mamta towards West Bengal and the prasads offered to Bihar by Lalu Prasad as are well debated. To avoid such controversies,the PM should annually rotate the Railway ministry. A cabinet member should be the Union Railway minister,and five ministers of state from five different states should assist him/ her. By the end of the governments term,the PM would have had Railway ministers from almost all states,with world-class stations,new trains,coach factories,shopping malls,hospitals and colleges for the whole country,courtesy Indian Railways.

P. Muraleedharan

Mumbai

Quota rush

 The Maharashtra government has rightly suffered the ignominy of the high court setting aside its resolution on 90 per cent quotas for SSC students in junior colleges. The move was nothing but a political ploy with an eye to the coming state elections. This mad rush to woo vernacular-medium students across the country must stop. In Maharashtra,after adhering to the Shiv Sena-MNS logic over the issue,how will the Congress-NCP combine set itself apart?

Bellur S. Dattatri Pune

China in trouble

The riots in Chinas Xinjiang province are shocking. The number of lives lost and images of armed Uighur and Han gangs roaming,then those of the army moving in,are disturbing. China is multi-ethnic and multi-religious,and the Party has marketed it as harmonious. Twenty years after Tiananmen and close on the heels of the Tibetan uprising of last year,this must be very embarrassing for the Peoples Republic.

Fakhruddin Qasmi

Mumbai