Letters to the editor

Our democracy seems to be torn asunder by leaders of all ilks on the basis of caste, creed, religion and region. This trend is at its peak, with intolerance and parochialism spreading at a disturbing pace. There is no such thing like true unity in diversity any more. Erosion of values coupled with the game of numbers in politics has made democratic governance near impossible. New ideas and visions for the future are suppressed, thereby pushing our democracy to the stone age. We need to stem this trend and open our windows to refreshing thoughts and ideas for our polity.

— K.P. Udayabhanu

New Delhi

Diatribes and glory

• This refers to the Idea Exchange with Meghnad Desai. For long has our country propounded and practised the theory of unity in diversity. But our colonial rulers rightly described us as not a country but a collection of tribes and we have never done anything to set that right. The vote-bank politics of political parties has given birth to leaders like Raj Thackeray, who find glory in denying an Indian his fundamental right to live anywhere in the country.

— Pachu Menon

Margao, Goa

Inherited lines

• It was a great blunder on the part of our political leaders who took over the reins of power in 1947 to step into the shoes discarded by British imperialists while leaving India. They should have realised that China had never accepted the arbitrarily fixed McMahon Line as the international boundary. After becoming an independent nation, we should have sat down with China as equals and discussed the issue in a good neighbourly spirit and entered into an agreement on international boundary.

— Dalip Singh Ghuman

Chandigarh

Celluloid slice

It’s that time of the year when students as well as their parents are on their toes. The spectre of examinations are looming over students and pressure is building up. Experts have time and again pointed to the need to have a stress-free environment at home. But the fact is that parents themselves often add to the pressure by taking too much interest in the performance of their child, and the pressure weighs him down. I think a verygood lesson for such parents comes from the film, Taare Zameen Par. Every parent should see it.

— Farzana Z. Khan

Pune

We all belong

• The write-ups on brink politics in ‘Maximum City’ Mumbai exposes how collapsing infrastructure, complex identity politics and shifting alliances make for a dangerous cocktail that Raj Thackeray is trying to exploit, heralding a politics of nativism and sectarianism.

In this politics also we see the states’ failure to curb such mob rule. In the democratic republic of India every citizen has a right to live anywhere and it should be the responsibility of the natives to provide the space for their social, cultural and religious growth. Definitely the law of the land should be enforced to curb the illegal activities of natives and migrants alike. I feel, thanks to globalisation, a larger multicultural, multilingual and multi-religious society is beginning to evolve, breaking regional, national and international barriers.

— Vitull K. Gupta

Bhatinda