Politics

NEW DELHI, 22/11/2012: A view of the Parliament on the opening day of the winter session, even as both the houses stood adjourned in New Delhi. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

THE imprisonment of Lalu Prasad for looting the people’s hard-earned money will serve as a lesson for all party leaders, many of whom think that party positions give them immunity from legal action (Cover Story, November 1). A code of conduct should be prepared for politicians and be strictly implemented.

Narendra Modi and L.K. Advani say that if the NOTA button is introduced, voting should be made compulsory, which is not a logical argument. Casting their votes may be a sacred duty of citizens in a democracy, but making voting compulsory is denying them their freedom of choice. Before making voting compulsory, parties should be compelled to give the party ticket to only good candidates, not to criminals, corrupt persons, or their relatives.

S. Raghunatha Prabhu

Alappuzha, Kerala

SOME recent orders of the Supreme Court may be unsettling for some politicians, bureaucrats and others but citizens of the country welcome the court’s intervention as a long overdue development. India has hundreds of laws, but they are rarely implemented, and political leaders invent creative ways to circumvent them. The courts only uphold the laws that are already on the books, but this seems to have become uncomfortable for some politicians.

H.N. Ramakrishna

Bangalore

Telangana

THE Telugu people are angry with the Congress party’s plan to divide their State because of the deceit involved and the party’s indifference to their sentiments ("People as pawns”, November 1). There is no rationale for the creation of Telangana, and sentiment and popular demand cannot be the basis for the establishment of a new State. The fact that the Congress party has chosen to divide Andhra Pradesh while ignoring other demands for the creation of States is making Telugus all the more angry. The political game of the Congress is now fully exposed.

Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

WHEN the Congress saw the huge emotional outpouring for the family of the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and with many of its own leaders deserting it for Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party, it sensed it was losing the State. All this made the Congress edgy as this State has 40-odd parliamentary seats. Panic set in. The Congress expects that at least Telangana will vote for it. But when it forgot that Hyderabad would be a big bone of contention, it erred big time. Now the whole of Andhra Pradesh is paying for the Congress’ miscalculation.

Bal Govind

Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Honour killing

THE murder in Haryana of Nidhi and the boy she eloped with by her parents only shows that Indians are living in the dark ages (“In the name of honour, again”, November 1). We need a new model that can transform society and save it from superstitions and damaging practices.

Jacob Sahayam

Thiruvananthapuram

KILLINGS in the name of honour are not new in Haryana, yet the police and the State government have failed to stop this growing menace. Since the authorities are hand in glove with those who perpetrate such crimes, people who want to get married against their families’ wishes seldom approach them; all talk of bringing new law(s) will be worthless unless the authorities act to the stop the killings.

K. Narsingh Rao

Hyderabad

Indian cinema

FRONTLINE dedicating almost an entire issue to Indian cinema’s century was a pleasant surprise (Cover Story, October 18). The issue tried to accommodate the whole sea within a cup and is one to be preserved.

Mahatma Gandhi and E.V.R. Periyar may have had negative views of cinema but were right from their own point of view. But cinema is a necessary evil. It is a diary of the past, the present and the future and helps us see things beyond ourselves and beyond our reach.

M.Y. Shariff

Chennai

TAMIL NADU Chief Minister Jayalalithaa recently celebrated the 100 years of Indian cinema in Chennai. On the occasion she honoured great actors of the Indian film industry in a big way. Even though south Indian stars, particularly those in the Tamil film industry, got a much-needed boost, well-known stars from the Hindi and Malayalam film industries also got their due. It was a grand way to celebrate the anniversary, and other States should follow Tamil Nadu’s example.

C.K. Subramaniam

Mumbai

AS a person who was born at the fag end of the 1920s, the articles in the special issue brought to my mind the bright stars of the cinema firmament of yesteryear. But, I noticed to my disappointment and amazement that nothing had been mentioned about M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.

G.E.M. Manoharan

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

A. V. Meiyappan

AVM is the oldest active studio and film production house in India. It introduced prominent actors such as Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Hassan, Vyjayanthimala and Rajkumar and technicians such as L.V. Prasad (first Hindi picture), P. Susheela and S.P. Muthuraman. AVM introduced several innovations and achieved several honours. For example, it introduced playback singing and dubbing technology.Today, AVM is in its 68th year and has produced over 175 films in all the major Indian languages.

Frontline’s special issue covered eminent personalities and institutions and breakthroughs in various aspects of Indian cinema. Although references were made to several of our movies, AVM was not mentioned. We are surprised and greatly disappointed that as eminent a personality as A.V. Meiyappan, who was a pioneer in Indian cinema, and an illustrious production house and studio were overlooked.

Aparna Guhan

Partner, AVM Productions, Chennai