Letters To The Editor

Just iconoclasm• IT was a pleasant surprise to read that for the first time in the history of independent India a court has sentenced a...

Just iconoclasm

• IT was a pleasant surprise to read that for the first time in the history of independent India a court has sentenced a sitting MP and cabinet minister — Shibu Soren — to a life term. The next day we were further delighted to learn that another court has awarded three years’ imprisonment to another celebrity and MP, Navjyot Singh Sidhu, holding him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. To top it, on the same day, the apex court also upheld the process of prosecution of political icons — public servants like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi and Parkash Singh Badal — without getting the sanction of the competent authority. All these are trends reflecting the signs of a mature democracy.

— Mohan Siroya, Mumbai

High office foibles

• WITH reference to the leader, ‘Sanctioning change’ (IE, December 7), the apex court’s verdict is a cause celebre for all those who are agitated about corruption in high places. Indeed, corruption in the country has been a major problem, although a few chief ministers have had to bow out following the findings of commissions of inquiry: Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, Pratap Singh Kairon, Biju Patnaik and K.B. Sahay, of J&K, Punjab, Orissa and Bihar, respectively. In recent times holders of high offices have become brazen and are taking shelter behind subterfuges like sanctions from competent authorities. If politicians cease to be corrupt, the bureaucrats will be honest, resulting in a more transparent administration.

— M.K.D. Prasada Rao, Ghaziabad

Landmark ruling

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• KUDOS to the SC landmark ruling that no administrative sanction is required to prosecute the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats (‘Don’t need govt OK…’ IE, December 7). I sincerely commend the SC bench. This is one of the best rulings by the apex court since independence and comes as a really big blow to totally corrupt public figures. Our politicians, barring a small fraction, are totally corrupt. By this ruling, the SC has once again demonstrated the reason why common citizens repose faith in it.

— C.R. Ramakrishnan, New Delhi

Time for gag

• THE conviction of our MPs is an matter of real shame and a stigma on our democracy. I will be very surprised if Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shibu Soren remain incarcerated for even 25 per cent of their jail terms. Laws and punishment in our country is only for the poor and marginalised. Even innocent people spend years in jail for want of justice while those convicted and sentenced are allowed complete freedom. Sidhu was a dashing player in his playing days but I guess he should now calm down and keep his mouth shut (stop laughing, too) now that he has been convicted. He should certainly stop giving interviews to the media.

— S.N. Kabra Mumbai

Cut in rhetoric

• THINGS do not add up in Pamela Philipose’s article (‘Khairlanji to Kanpur’, IE, December 2). She speaks of the victims becoming witnesses in an attack on a relative, and thereby admits that there was a background of violence. She refers to the silence of dalit leaders at the ceremony to commemorate the conversion of Ambedkar and accuses them of insensitivity. Maybe they knew the whole truth and chose to keep quiet. She speaks of the pent-up anger and “desperation” of the people who believe they will get no justice. I would put it differently — vote-bank politics giving rise to unrealistic expectations. We have to cut down on rhetoric, especially unrealistic rhetoric, and the “we” includes the writer.

— S.K. Balasubramanian, Pune