BMC big brother
• In the context of the BJP’s performance in the latest Maharashtra municipal elections in the company of Shiv Sena, Coomi Kapoor’s article (‘Big Brother’s dimming shadow’, IE, February 3) is welcome. While I would not exult over the victory of this combine, I am happy that the Congress, with its big brother attitude vis-a-vis the NCP, has been deservedly shown its place. Whether one likes it or not, the RSS is the holding company of the BJP now, as it was of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh earlier. Its current sarsangschalak is loud in his utterances, embarrassing the leadership in power in states like MP, and making the lives of the minority communities like the Muslims and the Christians insecure — although it is undeniable that these two are what they are because of conversions. Further, the RSS’s idea of Hindutva makes nobody any wiser because it somehow cannot campaign for ‘inclusiveness’ and, in an adolescent fashion, asks Hindus to add to their numbers by begetting more children!
— M.K.D. Prasada Rao, Bangalore
A Nithari too many
• What a great expose, ‘5 kids will go missing the next hour’ (IE, February 4) is. The spine-chilling statistics only awaken us to the grim possibility that many, many Nitharis might have been perpetrated in the country. And there may be so many lethargic, corrupt police personnel in ill-equipped state police forces. In the midst of dazzling news like the Tatas’ takeover of Corus, rise in foreign currency reserve, very impressive GDP growth etc, this expose tells us that India is progressing without Indians.
— N.K. Das Gupta, Kolkata
Cricket cabinet
• In the editorial, ‘Dasmunshi’s bouncer’ (IE, February 3), you have rightly challenged I&B Minister Dasmushi’s “arbitrary” and “dictatorial instincts” on the cricket telecast issue. It was amazing to note that the UPA cabinet, headed by a supposedly reformist-economist prime minister and consisting of the legally savvy finance and law ministers, endorsed Dasmunshi’s pseudo-patriotic initiative in the name of “public interest” to violate commercial interests of a private party that had purchased the telecast rights for millions of dollars from the national cricketing body (BCCI) presided over by a leading cabinet minister, Sharad Pawar. If the I&B minister was so concerned about the non-cable DD viewers watching cricket on the government channel, as if it is one of their fundamental rights, what prevented him from waking up earlier and putting necessary conditions on the BCCI through its president and other Congress loyalists like Rajiv Shukla?
— M. Ratan, New Delhi
Our pricey fuel
• This is with reference to your report (‘The Sunday Express’, February 4), on IPCC’s findings and the apathy shown by our government on the global warming impact on the country. It is really sad that our government does not take any steps to keep the demand for hydrocarbon fuels under control. In fact they encourage more and more wasteful consumption by keeping the selling prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG artificially low, in the garb of meeting the requirements of the poor man. We must remember that countries like Bangladesh and Nepal which are poorer than us, keep the prices of fuel on a par with import prices.
— R.P. Desai, Mumbai