Basics of secularism

• We have failed to comprehending the real meaning of secularism (‘Secularism equals Communalism’...

• We have failed to comprehending the real meaning of secularism (‘Secularism equals Communalism’, IE, March 7). The roots of ideals of secularism are vested in European secularism. Its real meaning is to trust only on factual things and not to have faith in divine. It doesn’t say the state must maintain the equality for all religions; on the contrary, it conveys that a state should be neutral and indifferent to all religions. It restricts the state’s involvement in religious issues. Religion is a personal and private belief of an individual. We will never accomplish and perform secularism in India until we understand these basics.

— Divyesh Raythatha On e-mail

• I am very impressed with Sagarika Ghose’s article. It is the naked truth about the current political situation. I wonder what it will lead to?

— Ajay Tripathi Tokyo

• I fully endorse the view expressed by Sagarika Ghose. I would like to add the term “corruption” to it. I wish there were other political analysts who define democracy in her way. The people must know the correct definition of secularism and democracy as practiced by different political parties.

— Tarashankar Rudra On e-mail

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• Apropos of Sagarika Ghose’s write-up, does she think Mama of 10 Janpath has the kind of statesmanship that values true democracy? After all her ma-in-law was responsible for the Emergency. Also, her ma-in-la allowed a collection of leftist chatterboxes to come up around herself to spread hate against the Jan Sangh, BJP, RSS and so on.

— Dinesh Solanki Mumbai

• In my belief the columnist has taken a one-eyed view of the issue. She needs to look at the big picture.

— Prashant Coutinho Sydney

P(roud) Chidambaram

• It is clear that P. Chidambaram is a small man but is as proud as peacock. He has plans to tax every transaction which are taking place in the country and has not bothered about the legitimacy of this move (‘A bad tax needs the axe’, IE, March 7).

— Uma Maheswaran Jalandhar

Bad language

• Lal Krishna Advani’s comments about the Jharkhand governor, Syed Sibtey Razi, being a “supari-killer” (after the Jharkhand happenings), was not only shocking but also shameful. If it was not Advani who was speaking, we could have dismissed it as the thoughtless utterances of a senile old man. I wonder how a man like Advani can stoop so low for political mileage. He was always so vocal about Hindu culture!

— Bidyut K. Chtterjee Faridabad

Lovely piece

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• The article, ‘Maha Shivratri’ (IE, March 7) by Renuka Narayanan was a very lovely piece of writing and was very pleasant and soothing to read.

— Arjun Dallas