PICTURE SPEAK

"The A Bomb", June 20

"L.K. Advani's statement that M.A. Jinnah was secular cannot be taken seriously. If Jinnah, as well as the Congress, were secular, why was India partitioned?"

Asoke C. Banerjee, Kolkata

Reading Between the Lines

By making a controversial statement in Pakistan L.K. Advani probably sought to establish the credentials of the peace initiative rightfully credited to the NDA and at the same time sound the bugle for Akhand Bharat ("The A Bomb", June 20). It should have been evident to the subtle mind that by saying Jinnah was a secularist, Advani was giving Pakistan an agenda similar to India's and if implemented would be an establishment of Akhand Bharat, at least in spirit.

Rashmi Talwar, on e-mail

Advani should realise that any party leader, other than dynastic ones, must be guided by the collective wisdom of the leaders at each level in a democratic set-up. He cannot impose his views on the majority of the workers.

B.V. RAO, on e-mail

The issue has brought several truths to the fore. The fact is that like Pakistani historians, who have always attributed sinister motives to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian historians too have painted Jinnah and Co. in indelible tar to concoct a positive secular space for Congress leaders. It would be unreasonable to say that Jinnah alone was responsible for Partition. Secularism should mean a political system in which all citizens are equal, irrespective of religion. Only Jinnah seems to have defined secularism correctly, though in practice he did the opposite.

Hirendra Chatterjee, on e-mail

Pakistan, as it is today, is not the way it was conceived by its founder. Nor is India. We are very far from the Ram Rajya concept of Gandhi and Pakistan is miles away from secularism.

Vijay Damle, on e-mail

Advani, in his attempt to reconstruct the party, has reduced the BJP to a run-of-the-mill political outfit. His flip-flops are an example of what happens when a man runs out of ideas. His attempt to iconise Jinnah, which has few takers in India, clearly shows that the party is undergoing a severe ideological and leadership crisis. If the BJP wants to survive it should redefine its ideological base, which once separated it from other parties.

Dhirendra Mishra, Allahabad

The recent visit to Pakistan by Advani was made in the Veer-Zaara spirit but what the nation got as the climax was Gadar Part 2, courtesy the Sangh Parivar.

Devendra Choubey, on e-mail

Advani was right when he said that the creation of India and Pakistan was an unalterable reality. A lot of people, including the outdated RSS, have been advocating the merger of India and Pakistan, citing the example of the two Germanys. But they seem to have forgotten that India and Pakistan have been dissected on the basis of religion, unlike Germany.

Udita Agrawal, Delhi

There is nothing wrong in Advani changing his opinion. People's views change over time and they normally don't hold the same views on a particular topic as they did 20 years ago. For me, Jinnah is more secular than the so-called pseudo-secularists of our country for whom only anti-Hinduism qualifies as secularism.

S.N. Varadarajan, on e-mail

If Jinnah, who is held responsible for the partition of India is considered secular and clubbed with the likes of Gandhi and Nehru, where will the latter stand in the view of Indians? Politicians should desist from issuing such irresponsible and off-the-cuff remarks.

D. Manikyala Rao, Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh

Jinnah was a megalomaniac who used religion to realise his goal. It is preposterous to call him a secular person. Advani perhaps needs a refresher course in Indian history if he is ignorant of this basic fact.

V.V.S. Mani, on e-mail

Advani is being branded a traitor by fundamentalists for quoting Jinnah's address to the Constituent Assembly. Why are they keeping mum on the eulogies bestowed on General Pervez Musharraf, the aggressor of Kargil?

C.M. Pershad, Alwal

It seems A.B. Vajpayee and Advani have been trying to place governance above ideology in the BJP's agenda. Unfortunately for Advani his past has damaged his present and future. The Sangh Parivar must decide who it wants as a leader: someone of the stature of Advani, or men like Narendra Modi and Praveen Togadia.

Jayatheertha S.A., Hyderabad

Advani's sudden change of heart is similar to that of Musharraf's. The motive behind both are very hard to comprehend.

Rohit Sawhney, on e-mail

Careful examination of Advani's speech and his remarks in the message book at Jinnah's mausoleum indicates that he never gave a certificate to the Quaid-i-Azam of being secular. In fact, he pointed out to Pakistan where it has strayed from Jinnah's ideals.

A.V. Karnik, Mumbai

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi episode confirms my belief that great people need not always be good and good people do not always attain greatness ("Tiger on the Run", June 20). Ashok Gupta, Delhi It is true the culture of hunting existed among the royals long ago, but times have changed now. It is astonishing a person of Pataudi's stature could be involved in the killing of an animal on the list of endangered species. . Shrikant Kulkarni, on e-mail When cricketers are banned for betting, will Pataudi be given punishment befitting his alleged crime? Charu Shah, Surendranagar

The Missing Factor

The respondents of the top 10 colleges poll did not include students, who are the most important factor in such a survey ("Top 10 Colleges of India", June 13). On the other hand, it comprised merely 350 academic experts who have set views and have nothing to lose or gain.

Chhaya Ambike, Delhi

It is difficult to understand how each IIT gets a different rank for admission procedure when all IITs admit students through the JEE. Students may prefer one IIT to another, and that explains the quality of the academic input rankings but not the rankings for admission procedure.

Sidhant Dash, Kanpur

The Ready Reckoner wrongly states that B.J. Medical College, Pune was established in 1964. In fact, it was established in 1946 and I was a student of that college in the year it was started.

K.H. Dave, Mumbai

Weak Links

General Mohammad Musa, who was the Pakistan army chief in 1965, wrote a book entitled My Version where he stated that the Indian attack on September 6, 1965 took them by surprise ("Blast from the Past", June 13). So what Indian plans are Gohar Ayub Khan talking about? His claim that directives from Jawaharlal Nehru reached Ayub Khan in Islamabad even before they reached Army Headquarters in Delhi appears preposterous. In India, once the decision to go to war is taken by the Cabinet, the methodology is left to the chiefs of staff committee.

Major-General (Retd) V.K. Singh, on e-mail

The story regarding the war plans sell-out to Pakistan is probably neither completely true nor absolutely false. Otherwise a man who has been foreign minister of a nation will not raise a storm over a thing of the past at a time when relations between the two countries are improving. The matter must be probed by some independent authority and the result should be made public .

Partha Sarathi Banerjee, Kolkata

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