• Are we entering a new chapter when muscle power is the order of the day (‘Govt panics, ready to ban book for Maratha votes’, IE, January 15). The last couple of months have shown that we are declining in our cultural values but increasing in our muscle values. Shiv Sena attacking Biharis, Assamese are attacked by Biharis, Biharis are attacked by Assamese. Then again the Shiv Sena came out against shopping malls and against Prof S. Bahulkar. What does Sharad Pawar mean when he says “objects of research (should) not show them (Marathas) in poor light”. It means nothing but this: do not research any subject involving Maratha culture. Are we not supposed to study what our ancestors thought and did? Is this what Pawar wants? If that is the case, then it is sad epoch ahead of us. One in which sanity ceases to exist and stupidity takes its place. — Ramesh Lahoti On e-mail • We are deeply shocked by the January 5 vandalism at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, one of the great treasuries of Indian knowledge, by a mob calling itself the Sambhaji Brigade. We deeply deplore the public harassment of senior scholar, Professor Shrikant Bahulkar, of the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeet by the Shiv Sena. We call upon the prime minister, the minister of human resource development, the chief minister of Maharashtra, and other leaders of the Government of India and the state of Maharashtra to condemn these acts publicly and unequivocally, to seek swift and appropriate punishment of all those involved and to ban the organisations responsible for these acts. A centuries-old tradition in India of social and intellectual tolerance is being destroyed before our very eyes. The current political leadership must act decisively and they must act now to ensure that such things never again occur. The world is watching and history will judge. — Doug Allen Professor of Philosophy University of Maine and several other scholars On e-mail Real issues please • Wonder what happened to rural development, agricultural upgradation and social and economic mobility for the large rural population (‘Polls in air, BJP plugs reforms’, IE, January 14)? Why do we need to patronise back office jobs? What about age old problems that are still not solved? — Sirsha On e-mail The Dravida legacy • The views expressed in ‘Dravida politics’ (IE, January 6) is biased against the DMK and AIADMK which are offshoots of Dravida Kazhagam (DK) founded by Thandai Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy Naiker in the eartstwhile province of Madras. DK consisted of non-brahmins and was started as a movement of protest against the degrading treatment meted out to them at the hands of the orthodox and elite Brahmins. The whole community was divided into two castes— Hindu Brahmin and non-Brahmin — and these were recorded in the school leaving certificates, which formed the basis for employment. Non-Brahmins were discriminated against in college admissions. Articles written by eminent authors were not published in the magazines run by the Brahmins. Non-Brahmins were not taught the Gayatri mantra or the Bhagwat Githa. In fact, they were not allowed to touch the Bhagwat Githa in some states. Intellectuals like Periyar created a mass upsurge against Brahmins superstitions, religious rituals and ridiculed these ideas by breaking the idols of Hindu gods. — K. Venkatakrishnan New Delhi
