Hindutva's triumph

There is no point in lamenting that Hindus lapped up the wrong propaganda or that Modi has won the election on the corpses of the thousands who died in the Gujarat carnage ("Hindutva's triumph", January 3, 2003). The fact is he won as the other parties could not counter him.

The fear that the BJP may try to replicate the Gujarat experiment in other parts of the country is misplaced. In Gujarat Modi was able to polarise Hindu votes by whipping up fears of their safety at the hands of terrorists, citing the Godhra incident and the Akshardham attack. He would not be able to do so in other parts of the country. In fact, such divisive politics may backfire. Hindus may reject the BJP approach and the minorities may get polarised out of fear of Hindu polarisation. Adopting cultural nationalism, a camouflage for Hindutva, as the election plank, would also not succeed.

The BJP would do well to accept the advice of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the party's national executive in Delhi that there was no scope for divisive politics as the BJP had to carry the nation with it.

Brig V.K. Agrawal (Retd.)Dehra Dun

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The Congress gets unsolicited advice from non-BJP parties to form a grand coalition against the `axis of evil', the BJP, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. But the problem is that their animosity towards the Congress is far more vicious than their dislike of the BJP. They have the destructive power of denying the Congress a victory but not the constructive power to win seats on their own for the coalition.

Even if the coalition were to win, the post-election scenario is bound to be a nightmare. They will impose grandiose claims on the decision-making apparatus. Even a defeat would be better than a victory with them as partners.

R. RajaramanReceived on e-mail

Human development

V.R. Krishna Iyer quotes from Joseph Stiglitz's Globalisation and its Discontents ("Human Rights and human development", January 3) that in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) it was assumed that the suffering faced by poor countries that took IMF assistance was part of the pain they had to experience on way to becoming a successful market economy and that the IMF measures would, in fact, reduce the pain in the long run. He also quotes noted economist J.M. Keynes as saying that "in the long run we are all dead".

Since Stiglitz's views, as evidenced in his treatise, are pertinently antithetical to the ongoing globalisation processes, he could have cited another quote from Keynes' article in the Summer issue of Yale Review (1933) titled, "National Self-sufficiency". It reads: "Ideas, knowledge, art, hospitality, travel - these are things which should of their nature be international; but let goods be home-spun wherever it is reasonably and conveniently possible, and above all let finance be primarily national." Keynes was indeed a forerunner, by two generations as it were, to Joseph Stiglitz as far as thinking on globalisation goes, and today could be a nightmare to the think tanks of the IMF, World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Dr. K. John MammenThiruvananthapuram

Nagappa's tragic end

In the past couple of years, the Karnataka government wavered not once but twice, and succumbed to most of Veerappan's demands, including ransom payment. In the process, former Minister H. Nagappa became his latest victim ("Tragic end of a hostage", January 3).

It is common knowledge that many members of the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Special Task Forces considered the posting a punishment. And often the STF of one State tries to outsmart the STF of the other.

Why has the Karnataka government not approached the Army's training school for jungle warfare, located in Belgaum, Karnataka, for help? Why was the offer of voluntary help made by retired Army officers who took part in commando operations in the dense forests of the northeastern region ignored? Obviously, the attitude has been, "Even if we don't catch him, we will not allow anyone else to."

N. NarasimhanBangalore

Domicile policy

The Jharkhand High Court's verdict in a case against the State government's controversial domicile policy will have wide-ranging ramifications on the population of the State ("A landmark verdict", January 3).

The Court rightly brushed aside the State's contention that the land surveys conducted in 1932 would constitute the sole basis for deciding who could apply for a government job and for admission to technical institutions. The domicile issue has created a rift between not only `insiders and outsiders' but also within groups such as the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in the State.

Instead of appealing against the verdict in the Supreme Court, all political parties of the State should work together in the larger interest of society and not be guided by sectarian policies. Care should also taken by the State not to subvert the Constitution by getting the domicile policy passed by the Legislative Assembly and Parliament for it to become a law, as was done in the case of poll reforms.

S. BalakrishnanJamshedpur

FDI in print media

This has reference to the article "Guidelines for invasion" (December 20, 2002). I would like to cite from The Economist, London, a strong votary of foreign investment in media, including newspapers: "The Chief Executive of a national newspaper group... may run a company whose market capitalisation is less than that of a middling bank or brewery, but has a far greater political clout" (May 10, 1997).

Add this to the argument that the power and reach of the print media far exceeds that of cable television and the Internet, especially in developing countries. Then the case against Foreign Direct Investment in the print media in India becomes more watertight and the call to "treat it like any other business" loses strength.

Raghuram EkambaramNew Delhi

The BEA

As someone with roots in Davangere, I was delighted to read the article on the many-faceted activities of the Bapuji Educational Association (December 20, 2002). The Association can legitimately claim that the present-day prominence of the city is primarily due to its stupendous achievements. The composite culture of southern and northern Karnataka, which defined its past, has now metamorphosed into a culture characteristic of a typical university town and, as a result, there is also a noticeable change in its intellectual ambience. This sea change has occurred within the past three or four decades.

Major credit has been given to Shamanur Shivashankarappa for spearheading this magnificent achievement, and rightly so. His name has become a synonym for BEA. He is a successful businessman, an entrepreneur par excellence, an astute politician, an exceptionally good leader and a visionary of the highest order.

There is, however, a glaring omission. My father, Dr. H.K. Krishnaswamy, a doctor and a resident of Davangere since 1932, served as the chairman of BEA for a number of years. He was the incumbent chairman when he died in 1990. When Shivashankarappa received the news while on a visit to Europe, he telephoned the BEA management and asked it to close all the educational institutions for the day as a mark of respect to the chairman. My father was acknowledged as the conscience-keeper of the BEA throughout his long years of voluntary service. His one passion was to inculcate professionalism into its various educational institutions, since he believed in excellence in whatever he did. Though there was a generational difference between him and Shivashankarappa, their mutual regard for each other helped them work harmoniously towards the common goal.

Dr. H.K. KesavanUniversity of WaterlooOntario, Canada

Conversion Bill

"An assault on secularism" (December 6, 2002) by Aladi Aruna failed to discuss and argue against the specific aspect of religious conversion "by the use of force or allurement or by fraudulent means" which is what the Tamil Nadu Bill addresses. The article only elaborated on the provisions in our Constitution, and on the meaning of terms like `propagate'. No one should have arguments against laws enacted to prevent forced conversion of illiterate, economically weaker and gullible sections of the society, which have been the main targets of such activities. Even the staunchest hard-line `Hindutva' advocates do not seem to object to the true propagation of any religion.

The only acceptable part of the article is the two paragraphs where stringent laws are suggested to punish those committing atrocities and outrages against the depressed classes and weaker sections, and those who foment communal/religious violence.

K.D. NambudripadKozhikode, Kerala

The Dravidian movement

N.S. Sankararaman's remarks about the Dravidian movement and the contribution of Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy towards social revolution in his letter (Frontline, January 3) are factually erroneous and conceptually biased. He says that the emergence of Dravidian forces "was based on malice, hatred and prejudice for Brahmins". This is a wrong assessment. The leaders of Justice Party and Periyar never hated the Brahmin as an individual, but Brahmins as a community, which through its unjust and unearned socio-religious and cultural privileges dominated and exploited the common people.

Again, he should know that the attack of the Dravidian forces was on the scriptures and the institutions that justify and perpetuate social discrimination and inequality. Sankararaman admits that Brahmins were "aided by the historical and social advantages that they had enjoyed from time immemorial." These advantages or privileges, they enjoyed due to the Varna-Jaathi (caste) system. It is due to this fact the Dravidian movement seeks to eradicate Varnashrama dharma that is even now zealously safeguarded by Brahmins, who retain their dominant and exploitative position by safeguarding the institutions and instilling sanctity to the scriptures that favour graded inequality according to one's birth in a Varna or Jaathi. For example, even now only a Brahmin could be an Archaka in a Vedic or an Agamic temple. Brahmins also oppose the language of the common people to be chanted as mantras or used for worship in temples; they insist that only Sanskrit should be used for those purposes. The Dravidian movement opposes such practices that harm egalitarian values and the development of democratic norms.

Sankararaman gives a false and distorted picture when he says that Periyar E.V.R. quit the Justice Party and founded the Dravidar Kazhagam "because of his personal frustration and feeling of being marginalised within the Justice Party rather than any great concern for the marginalised Tamil communities". As a matter of fact, the Justice Party that was defeated in the 1937 Provincial elections elected Periyar E.V.R., the leader of Self-Respect Movement, to be the Party President in December 1938 when he was in prison. Periyar never quit the party, but changed the name of the Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944. Simultaneously he asked the members to give up titles conferred by the government as well as the posts held by them. This he did to put an end to the hold of traditionally dominant families and the rich, and to help the marginalised sections of society.

It is absolutely improper to say that Periyar "took care not to offend caste Hindus". He used to say frequently that the degradation of Shudrahood would go only when the blemish sticking to untouchability was done away with. He aimed to abolish caste. During the 1957 Muthukulathur riots in southern Tamil Nadu between the depressed and the upper castes, Periyar stood firmly on the side of the downtrodden while even leaders like Arignar Anna and Rajaji took a lukewarm stand.

The criticism that Periyar's "brand of atheism" chose to attack only the Hindu community and gods is wrong and misleading. When he says "There is no god," he does not mean only the Hindu gods but what they call God in all religions. He pointed out the misdeeds, atrocities, cruel customs, superstitious and other meaningless, harmful practices found more among Hindus than among the people of other religions because he was born a Hindu, a religion that constituted the vast majority in the country. Thomas Paine, Ingersoll and Bertrand Russel attacked Christian doctrines and practices, not those of Hinduism! Periyar translated and popularised the Tamil versions, which equally exposes the follies in other religions. I am sorry to note the ignorance of the writer on these matters.

G.V.K. AasaanCoimbatore

Corrections: In Love with Life - A Journey through Life in Photographs is an album of T.S. Satyan's best photographs, and not his autobiography as mentioned in the introduction to his illustrated article "Connoisseur King" (January 3, 2003). The autobiography is yet to be published.

In the story "A crackdown in Tamil Nadu" (January 3, 2003), it was wrongly reported that T. Kuppuramu, president of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in Ramanathapuram district, was murdered on August 25, 1996. The case only relates to an attempt to murder Kuppuramu. The error is regretted.