I fully agree with the estimate made on the life of Ramakrishna Hegde, in the write-up, ‘Gentleman politician passes away’ by Neerja Chowdhury (IE, January 13). The author has rightly pointed out that Hegde was lacking in the killer instinct needed to reach the top in the Indian politics. It is quite true. He was not a man who would stoop to any level to make cheap compromises on matters related to public life. Had he been in the habit of making unprincipled compromises, he would certainly have continued to adorn the chief minister’s chair in Karnataka till the last day of his earthly existence. His scintillating performance as the first non-Congress chief minister of Karnataka brought him laurels. With his efficient administration and eminent leadership, he was indeed pivotal in making his party (then Janata Party) gain a firm grip on the state of Karnataka. The Pan-India charisma of Rajiv Gandhi, the then prime minister, aided by the sympathy wave resulting from the assassination of Indira Gandhi, could not turn the tables on Hegde in the Karnataka state assembly elections of 1985. Hegde imperiously led his party to victory with an absolute majority. Rajiv Gandhi went so far as to suggest that Hegde would be irrelevant after the Assembly elections in 1985. But he had to eat his words after the election results had proved Hegde’s unquestionable influence. Needless to say, his own colleagues in his party proved themselves a nemesis to his majestic march towards stardom in national politics. — R.Joseph, Ravi Balan On e-mail Gentleman Hegde? • This is with reference to the Hegde obituary. While it is normal for a writer doing obits to heap praise on the dead person, it must also contain the truth. Despite a good mention that Hegde deserves, it is also clear that he was a master manipulator of the media while being a crook. And as for starting panchayati raj at the state level before Rajiv Gandhi took it to the national level, your reporter ought to have known that it was Jyoti Basu’s Left Front government which started this in 1978 in West Bengal, long before Hegde did so in Karnataka. I thought the Express motto is to always publish the truth! — Gautam Banerjee On e-mail Hilarious •George Verghese has written a hilarious piece (‘What’s in a name?’, IE, January 8). Let me add my tale, too. It is well known that the default name for any South Indian found in the north is Subramanian. In Bihar, this got changed to ‘brahmaniya’ and later slowly into ‘barmaniya’. Listen more to the sounds of Bihar. I did so for three decades and love its innocence. — R. Srinivasan On e-mail He’s got it wrong • The writer of ‘What’s in a name?’ (IE, January 8) seems to have a wrong notion about the conditions prevalent in Bihar, besides having a prejudice against Biharis. The fact is that no vehicles flaunt their number plates in Patna. — Arunabh Sinha On e-mail Splendid piece • WHAT a splendidly evocative piece Soli S. Sorabjee has penned (‘Doing justice to a great moment’, IE, January 8). It makes one proud of our judicial traditions. — R. Srinivasan On e-mail
