Letters to the Editor

Maharashtra

THE absurd drama enacted on November 22 on the dual stage of Mumbai and New Delhi shredded political morality into pieces (Cover Story, December 20). And in the end, the actors had to vacate the stage with egg on their faces. In the whole drama, Ajit Pawar, wittingly or otherwise, played the role of a red herring to perfection, and Sharad Pawar, the master strategist, beat the Modi-Shah duo at its own game.

Ayyasseri Raveendranath

Aranmula, Kerala

Maharashtra faced a three-week-long political drama in November, which the Cover Story discussed in detail. There are specific reasons for the tussle. Mumbai is the greatest contributor to political funding in the country—a situation that both the BJP and the Shiv Sena have made use of for decades.

Maharashtra is the second most populous State of the country and its capital, Mumbai, is India’s financial capital, but many farmers’ suicides took place in the State and rural distress is a reality. The entire nation is waiting to see what steps the new government will take to ensure a holistic development of the State.

Tapomoy Ghosh

Katwa, West Bengal

THE developments in Maharashtra are testimony to the crass political opportunism all parties indulge in. The BJP’s attempt to retain power by hook or by crook was deplorable. That said, the Shiv Sena’s severing of its long-standing ties with the BJP made a mockery of the mandate the public gave the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. The events also underline the fact that the attempts to isolate the BJP using the now all-too-familiar “secular-communal” divide argument has outlived its utility as the supposed secular parties, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had no qualms about aligning with the Shiv Sena, which until the other day these same parties considered to be more communal than the BJP. Going by experience, it is anybody’s guess how long the bonhomie exhibited by the leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will last.

B. Suresh Kumar

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

THE S hiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine was able to cobble together a post-election coalition mainly because of the callous attitude and ghetto mentality of the BJP leadership. The BJP juggernaut was not able to roll on. The ramifications of what happened in Maharashtra will be felt far and wide. Although there may not be a major shake-up in national politics, the significant takeaway from all this is that the BJP is no longer invincible.

Although the Maharashtra Governor’s abuse of the gubernatorial office was palpable, the Supreme Court acted as the saviour of democracy.

S. Murali

Vellore, Tamil Nadu

Initially, no one was ready to believe the events that took place in Maharashtra. One felt sad to see Mumbai in the coils of power-hungry politicians. According to the media, pollsters had predicted a steep fall in the voter turnout for the Maharashtra Assembly election. All Indians should learn a lesson from these election results and pledge to turn up to vote in all elections.

P. Senthil Saravana Durai

Mumbai

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a language, not a dharm, which any qualified person can teach (“Communalising a campus”, December 20). Students from all over the world go to Heidelberg, Germany, to learn Sanskrit, and the teachers there are probably German Christians. So, if a Christian can teach Sanskrit, why not a Muslim? In fact, it would be interesting to have a person of the Muslim faith as one’s Sanskrit professor, especially if he/she is also well versed in Islamic culture and languages such as Urdu or Arabic. It is no wonder that Sanskrit is not getting rejuvenated and the standards of scholarly work are so dismal.

Firoze Khan was selected on merit and has the qualifications required to teach the subject, so why should he not teach? Tomorrow some people may say that a Dalit cannot teach Sanskrit. This is what happens when a regressive political ideology takes over society. Firoze Khan must be supported and the administration of Banaras Hindu University should take a firm stance on this issue.

Santhosh Mathew

Puducherry

Education

THIS is with reference to the articles on higher education, namely, “Privatising a public good”, “A case to make it free” and two interviews (December 20). Jawaharlal Nehru University is an important educational institution. The recent hike in fees there should be of national concern. JNU plays a crucial role in fostering the social and political sciences. Not only JNU, many institutions of higher education, including the IITs and the IIMs, are in distress. These institutions are nation builders.

The students of JNU are able to understand the hidden agenda of the BJP-led government and are fighting against it. We, the students of other institutions, are behind them.

Samyabrata Ghosh

Kolkata

Uttar Pradesh

THE Uttar Pradesh government’s blaming an Islamist extremist group for the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari and the victim’s family’s defiance creates a bizarre twist in the story of the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (“Mysterious murder”, November 22). The harassment and threats the family faced from the government demonstrate how undemocratic political leaders in India are.

Nairul S.K.

Tirurangadi, Kerala