Letters to the editor

Together they provide a clear picture of the party’s strategy. Vajpayee’s appeal to Muslims to support the BJP to usher in a change in UP, a day after Kalyan Singh’s high-pitched rhetoric spitting venom against Muslims, should not be taken too seriously. The BJP is clearly set to face the 2007 UP polls and the 2009 general elections solely on the Hindutva agenda; the BJP and its leaders think that Hindutva and the Ram temple are the panacea for the nation’s ills. The party forgets that religious fanaticism will only create an ugly reaction and that there is no place for such politics in a secular country like India.

— B.K. Chatterjee, Faridabad

Dharavi pie

• THIS is with reference to ‘From Vancouver to LA to Hong Kong builders to bid for slice of Dharavi pie’ (IE, December 13). They will come from all over the world, not because we do not have industrialists who can do the job, but because with foreigners the slice of the pie can be easily transferred into a foreign bank account of our politicians and bureaucrats. This has happened in the past. Foreigners will be preferred, and if at all there is an Indian entity involved it will only be a front or to ‘comply’ with some law or the other.

— Behram Aga, Mumbai

Lalu’s acquittal

• WHILE the conviction of Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lall murder case gives us hope that the long arm of our criminal justice machinery is capable of catching up with criminals who enjoy a high and influential status in society, the acquittal of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife in a disproportionate assets case has come as a dampener. It shows that we still have a long way to go before we can state with certainty that the legal proceedings in our country are impartial.

— V. Rajesh, Mumbai

Power sloth

• THE immense potential of hydro-electric, wind, solar and tidal powers in the country remains untapped. So also the huge thorium deposits and the large quantities of uranium that we have. Had there been political will and sufficient technical knowhow, India would have been a world power in power generation today. Unfortunately, such a prospect was not realised, thanks to braindrain going on since the sixties. The drain continues, thanks to the erroneous policies in the country, dictated by vote-bank politics. Those who don’t emigrate are driven by greed and corruption. It would ill-serve them if they make ambitious plans to generate the 35000 MW of power that the country could generate using available indigenous resources.

— Gautam Mookerjee, Kolkata

Private mission

• THIS refers to ‘Mission Admission’ (IE, December 25). As per the Delhi High Court, interviewing kids and their parents for admission to nursery classes is not allowed. This decision must be made applicable in government and aided schools only. There should not be undesirable and illogical government control over unaided or minority schools, as there are many government or aided schools for those who want admission in them.

— Mahesh Kumar, Delhi