Opinion Re-examine 1956
As always,a very well-informed and insightful article by Inder Malhotra. The Suez incident also marked the rare case of a rift between Britain and the US.
• As always,a very well-informed and insightful article by Inder Malhotra. The Suez incident also marked the rare case of a rift between Britain and the US. It also endorsed the non-alignment policy of Jawaharlal Nehru,as Eisenhower was on his side on this occasion: the US could not condemn the occupation of Hungary by Stalins army when Britain,France and Israel were ganging up on Nasser. The way we squandered our position in the international community during the simultaneous Hungary crisis is legendary. We kept mum over Soviet aggression and gave the impression that our policy of non-alignment was criticism of the West and a blind eye towards the East. Was Krishna Menon really to blame for it? The Menon phenomenon needs more detailed study from scholars,especially keeping in mind the geo-political situation at the time. It is possible that our generation,with the fall of the Berlin wall as the only memory of the Cold War,is biased heavily towards criticising Nehru and Menon.
Shantanu Bedekar
Miraj
Diminishing Husain
• Pratap Bhanu Mehta in Freedoms our defence appears to be grounded too much in Western liberalism. We may be a democracy,but we still live in a primitive society where religion is the opiate of the masses. No matter how great an author or an artist,he must take care that his creations do not transgress the sensibilities of people belonging to different faiths. By opting to become a citizen of a theocratic state rather than of a free society Husain has definitely diminished his status as an artist.
Parvinder Singh
Noida
• It took the Vatican four centuries and more to realise its astronomical blunder in declaring Galileo a heretic. Expression of an opinion even when factual and absolute has had to stand the ordeal of fire for ages before being vindicated. Husain is no Galileo,nor even a Michaelangelo. Artists,writers and thinkers of the highest calibre ought to be prepared to stand by their beliefs under the fiercest of scrutiny. The acceptance of Qatari citizenship by Husain would tend to undermine that.
R. Narayanan
Ghaziabad
Long-awaited bill
• The centenary of International Womens Day (March 8) becomes all the more significant for Indian women because of the historic reservation bill. This progressive legislation,thanks to co-ordinated efforts by the treasury benches and principal opposition parties,is all set to see the light of day. When the president of India,the speaker of the Lok Sabha,the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party and the leader of the opposition are all women,there ought to be no further delay.
Hemant Kumar
Ambala
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