Letters to the Editor

General election

THE Cover Story (May 2) dealt elaborately with various aspects of the general election. Besides the BJP and the Congress, many powerful regional parties and their leaders have emerged, giving the election a new dimension. The RSS appears to have established itself using Narendra Modi as a front. Opportunism has become the order of the day. Despite attempts by Rahul Gandhi to revive the Congress, it seems to be on the decline. It is too early to gauge the impact of the Aam Aadmi Party. The Left has not been able to build a strong third front. The main question is who will rise to the top post? Will Modi succeed in bringing the communal fringe along with him and handing India over to big business? Everything hangs in the balance.

Jacob Sahayam

Thiruvananthapuram

THE Cover Story was definitely the best piece of political information this election season. It gave readers a clear idea of the significance of the Left and regional political parties. It is important to remember that it was the Telugu Desam Party that enabled the BJP to form the government in 1998. Then, the Congress-led UPA, in its first stint, had to depend on the outside support of the left parties. The significant others are often conveniently “forgotten” by many election pundits. Frontline’s Election Special is a must-read for parliamentary election enthusiasts.

G. Anuplal

Bangalore

THE BJP’s Election Manifesto 2014 is a welcome departure from those of previous elections as it does not harp on the Ram temple issue (“Woolly promises”, May 2). As gender discrimination is a scourge that affects women irrespective of religion and a uniform civil code is a way to guarantee them an equal platform, I do not understand why the article felt there was something wrong with the code being garbed in “apparently gender-sensitive terms” in the manifesto. Purifying a river or protecting an animal will have immense benefits, so I do not see anything wrong even if this is done in the name of religion. I more or less agree with the article on the manifesto’s environment protection clause, which seems to tilt in favour of corporates.

Ritvik Chaturvedi

New Delhi

THE article “DMK and sons” (April 18) reflected the feelings of true DMK sympathisers. M.K. Karunanidhi did the right thing by ousting Azhagiri from the party. Stalin is more educated and dedicated to the party than Azhagiri. The options before Azhagiri now are either to form a party of his own or join some other party. While saying that he is still in the DMK and respects its leader, he is openly threatening to do whatever is possible to defeat the DMK candidates in the election. This is nothing but a betrayal, and no true DMK man will heed his advice.

A. Sampath

Srirangam, Tamil Nadu

Controversies over some of the BJP’s Lok Sabha seats brought the party’s internal strife to the fore when the election campaign was in full swing (“A tale of two campaigns”, April 18). The real issue is lack of transparency in ticket distribution. RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat’s frequent interventions in the BJP’s election strategy surely hampered the party’s relentless efforts to downplay Modi’s communal image. Will the Union government be dictated to by the RSS if the BJP comes to power?

Buddhadev Nandy

Bishnupur, West Bengal

MANY people will agree with Prabhat Patnaik’s observation that politicians being sold to people as “commodities” represents an extremely sinister trend and is indicative of a shift to fascism (“Marketing politicians”, April 4). Or should one call it “neo-fascism”?

The trend may become a reality in case the most prized “commodity” occupies the Prime Minister’s chair. The corporate sector, the rich land mafia and a section of the middle class will be happy, and in the name of “good governance”, the ruling clan will follow a development policy without social welfare measures for the poor.

Organisational support will come from the RSS, which will also try to implement its communal agenda. Ruthless repression of the working class is on the cards.

Subir Ray

Bangalore

Literature

WHILE referring to different Sakuntalas, K. Satchidanandan did not mention either K.V. Subbanna’s rereading of Abhijnana Sakuntala as Loka Sakuntala or Kuvempu’s Shree Ramayana Darshanam, both of which are to date the two most seminal postcolonial texts that engage one’s attention in deconstructing the canonical texts of mainline Ramayana and Sakuntala (“The politics of rereading”, April 18). But for these two omissions, the article merits considerable attention for its scholastic inputs.

P.V. Subraya

Sagar, Karnataka

1962 war

THE article “India-China war: The true story” (April 18) described the events that led to India’s defeat in the war and also the “cover-up” of the Henderson Brooks report but did not mention Jawaharlal Nehru’s expansionist plan under the veil of the Forward Policy and his desire to become a world leader either through the Non-Alignment Movement or by annexing Chinese territory. He ignored China’s strength and, instead of trying to negotiate with it, proposed the Forward Policy. The Assamese can never forget his reluctance to save the State from “red” hands and his candy-coated adieu message to it: “My heart goes out... to the people of Assam.” The article should also have analysed Mao’s motive for attacking India, which according to unofficial sources was because he wanted to give a fillip to his declining popularity and position in his party’s politburo.

Subhrangshu Pratim Sarmah

Guwahati