Health care
THE Cover Story (April 14) stated that “National Health Policy 2017 leaves the poor in the lurch…”. This proves that the government does not at all care about the health of poor people. Government hospitals are so overcrowded and ill-equipped that many people, especially the middle class and the rich, opt to go to private hospitals. And most private hospitals earn huge profits at the expense of people whose desperation leaves them with few choices. Does NHP 2017 have provisions to deal with such exploitation?
Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi
RSS
THE article “Nationalism in peril” (April 14) was yet another piece of RSS/BJP/Narendra Modi bashing in which the author levelled stereotyped allegations against them while deliberately overlooking the RSS’ contributions to nation building. It is a sad reality that no other contemporary organisation has been as misunderstood and as maligned as the RSS. It is an organisation that focusses on character building and has matured under the leadership of Dr K.B. Hedgewar, M.S. Golwalkar and others, as is reflected by the increasing number of its volunteers over the years.
B. Suresh Kumar, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Assembly elections
THE article “March of Hindutva” (April14) decoded the hidden agenda of the BJP in usurping power without the requisite mandate in the Assembly elections in Goa and Manipur. The manipulations were an assault on democracy. It was shocking that the States’ Governors lent themselves to the machinations of the Modi-Amit Shah duo, consigning their constitutional responsibilities to the flames. The Congress, as usual, suffers because it is in a dynastic grip of poor leadership.
The removal of Manohar Parrikar from the important Defence portfolio shows that the BJP is not taking national interests seriously. The Finance Minister cannot do justice to the Defence portfolio because he has urgent responsibilities relating to boosting GDP growth, GST implementation, and so on. The BJP’s manoeuvres in Manipur will unfortunately add fuel to the fire of Naga insurgency.
The BJP’s argument is that it is only doing what the Congress has done in the past. It has unleashed a political juggernaut that is crushing democratic principles, the country’s pluralistic ethos and political decorum. The country is unfortunately devoid of a worthy ruling party or a responsible opposition party.
B. Rajasekaran, Bengaluru
THE Supreme Court was right in refusing to entertain the Congress party’s plea against the Governor of Goa (“Numbers game”, April 14). When there is a hung Assembly, the party that musters support and stakes a claim to form the government is the one that will be called to do so. In this case, the BJP acted swiftly, enlisted the support of smaller parties and approached the Governor. The Congress party is at fault for moving at a leisurely pace. Therefore, the Governor’s decision to invite the BJP to form a government was just. The Congress party has, on several occasions in the past, set a wrong precedent by treating Governors as its cronies and misusing the constitutional office to serve its own needs.
K.R. Srinivasan, Secunderabad, Telangana
THE anti-incumbency factor contributed to the BJP’s massive victory. The demonetisation drive did not have much of a negative impact on voters. The decimation of the Congress party in all States except Punjab raises serious questions about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. However saddened one might be by the BJP’s success in the recent Assembly elections, one has to give the Modi-Amit Shah combine credit for it. A grand alliance of secular and democratic forces is the need of the hour to ensure that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance does not form the government after the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The opposition should make common cause with the sole goal of dislodging the right-wing combine.
S. Murali, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
THE BJP has every reason to feel elated after its victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, which surpassed the expectations of even the most inveterate optimists in the party (“Right on top”, March 31). There are, however, unmistakable signs that the aura that Modi’s acolytes have created around him is overshadowing the party. The image of a leader getting bigger than his party may lead to that party's inevitable decline, as exemplified by the fate of the Congress party.
Ayyasseri Raveendranath, Aranmula, Kerala
IN Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won because Mayawati’s record is not clean and Akhilesh and Mulayam were at loggerheads. The less said about Rahul Gandhi and the Congress the better. Modi’s tall promises seemed to have swayed the voters in his favour. Demonetisation did not affect the election outcome; in India, the poor seem to be happy with the impression that the rich were targeted, not realising that the rich were the least affected by demonetisation. And the number of people with black money is too low to affect the voting pattern.
M. Kumar, New Delhi
Aurangzeb
POSITIVE views on the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb come like a breath of fresh air (“New perspectives on Aurangzeb”, March 17). William Dalrymple called him a “pragmatic ruler”. But the fact remains that he was a brutal ruler who imprisoned his father and killed three of his siblings, including Murad, who had been on his side in the fight for the throne. That Aurangzeb could cross all limits of cruelty is proved by the method he used to kill Shambhaji, the eldest son of Shivaji. Aurangzeb’s negative image is unlikely to fade away.
Gadadhar Narayan Sinha, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
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