Letters To The Editor

BJP and Sachar• THE Sachar Committee’s report, which ably highlights the current status of Indian Muslims, must be embraced by the...

BJP and Sachar

• THE Sachar Committee’s report, which ably highlights the current status of Indian Muslims, must be embraced by the BJP. It provides the party with a great opportunity to broaden its horizons and, most importantly, do it in a politically correct way. Justice Sachar hasn’t recommended reservations for Muslims which is the perfect premise for the BJP to build its new discourse upon. The national party can now voice its genuine concerns about the condition of Muslims and empathise with a section it had distanced itself from for so long. Also, there are enough talking points within the report which suits the BJP perfectly. As, for instance, the Gujarat government’s Rs 500-crore project to help a large population of BPL Muslims who are into kite-making.

—Gaurav Dua Delhi

• APROPOS of your report, ‘Equity, education are Sachar’s two pills’ (IE, November 18), is not the demand for “equity in jobs for Muslims” not another name for reservation? The basis of reservation for the SCs/ STs was that the higher castes had dominated them. Has the Muslim community not ruled India for over a millennium? Why then the preferential treatment to Muslims? In the hills of Uttaranchal, people in my native village (all Brahmins) are poorer than the average Muslim or SC/ST homes in the plains. Why is there no reservation for them? The Muslims suffer due to poor education and large families. If they focus on these two issues, it would make all the difference to them.

—Col M.M.P. Kala (retd), Dehra Dun

Game theory

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• EVEN as the media is filled with items carrying news about affirmative acton for Muslims in jobs and their poor condition in “every sphere of life” as per the Sachar Committee report. Please note that in the Indian cricket team playing in South Africa in the first match, there are four Muslim players. All of them have come from so-called poor backgrounds. All of them have made it to the Indian team by their hard work, which was recognised despite their economic status and religious background. Reservations for Muslims can be justified if there is an overt bias against them. But that is clearly not the case.

— Udita Agrawal, New Delhi

Divided house

• THERE was an item from the ‘Organiser’ (IE, November 16). I can only say, ‘Doctor heal thyself’. How can Hindus unite others when they themselves are full of fissures and wrong practices? The caste divide by itself is a grave problem. The community lost many battles because 30 per cent of our people could not contribute since they were considered untouchable. How can such a society sow unity among others? The seeds of iscord have been sown by the Hindus themselves. I wonder, given this, how RSS chief Sudarshan plans to spread the message of peace and brotherhood?

— R. Singh, Delhi

Express wishes

• WHEN it comes to investigative journalism, The Indian Express, is second to none and congratulations to your esteemed newspaper for winning the International Press Institute, India, award for Excellence in Journalism, 2006. Corruption rules the roost in our country and investigative journalists are the watchdog of our society. Hats off to your bunch of reporters who exposed the Bihar flood scam and the disappearance of the tiger from national parks across the country. Keep up the good work. We, the readers, are really proud of the newspaper we read.

—S.N. Kabra, Mumbai