Perils from Centre• If post-1947 Congress rule at the Centre is any guide, so far as responsible use of Article 356 is concerned, the hard hitting words in your editorial, ‘Hand of control’ (IE, February 21), are unlikely to evoke positive response from the Manmohan regime, leave alone “cultivating some humility”. The Congress has always made an arrogant use of power when it comes to dismissing opposition governments in states, and the danger of its misuse is even more when it is the state of UP — where Assembly elections are due now and the CM is none other than Mulayam Singh Yadav, who dares to claim championship of Muslim cause at par with the Congress. This is an irresistible temptation for India’s grand old party and it will be preposterous to believe that the Congress will care about Bommai, Jharkhand and Bihar instances in the recent past. The perils of arrogance are indeed real, as you have rightly warned. — G.S. Kulkarni, DelhiEC way out• THE Election Commission’s decision is a masterstroke of intervention by a constitutional body. It has, in the process, spared the President of India an avoidable embarrassment. In our country, political expediency takes precedence over constitutional propriety and the Congress has been, for decades, doing its worst to ride roughshod over states, when not ruled by it, abusing the governor’s office to serve its own political ends. We have been a free democracy for 60 years, but political maturity has not yet dawned on the Congress, a party that ruled for the better part of the period.— M.K.D. Prasada Rao, BangaloreTax hatchet• THE thought of taxing any part of PPF is objectionable, now that FM P. Chidambaram is planning his ‘rob tax’ on the maturity amount. It is the indirect savings of the working class, who are the backbone of the nation and who are in crores. It is their hard-earned money and not a lottery. At this rate the current FM would go down as the top taxman in Inidia’s fiscal history. Why has this Harvard educated FM his eyes trained always on the incomes and savings of the masses and not the classes? Why can’t he go after powerful tax evaders like MPs, MLAs, corporators, councillors and babus spread all over India, or after hoarders, profiteers, black marketers if not the underworld dons? He lacks either the necessary wit or the guts to take on them. Must he keep targeting the honest tax payers with his blunt tax axe? — Hansraj Bhat, MumbaiPak must ponder • THE Samjhauta Express blast must be condemned by one and all. When Indians are killed in a terrorist attack, we point a finger at Pakistan. Most of those killed in the train blast were Pakistanis and I wonder what we would say of these attacks now. Terrorism knows no religion or nationality. It is a world phenomenon aimed to derail world peace for petty gains by people who are of unstable mind to destabilise world economy. Terrorism should be fought with a joint mechanism in earnest, and this Pakistan should realise. — S.N. Kabra MumbaiWestern front• I AGREE with C. Raja Mohan, ‘All set on the western front’ (IE, February 19), on the issue of impending Indo-Pak settlement. A big bang approach is much better than a piecemeal one. Obviously, there is greater risk but it’s worth it. If we resolve the Kashmir issue, then the memories of 1947 will be left behind. India and Pakistan can become normal (or maybe good) neighbours. — Pranav Sachdeva, New Delhi
