Mail of the Week

PICTURE SPEAK

"Martyr Stroke", April 3

"Sonia's resignation was a tactical and strategic move, and in no way a sacrifice as presented by sycophant politicians."

Shruti, Delhi

Different Stroke

The resignation of Sonia Gandhi from the Lok Sabha ("Smart Move", April 3) is an exemplary step and should serve as a model for our politicians. After refusing the prime minister's post in 2004, Sonia has again shown that she is in politics only for the service of the people and not for any personal gains. This is a rare act. If one compares it with the desperate attempts by Jaya Bachchan to save her Rajya Sabha seat after being disqualified, one can only feel sorry for her. Why is Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Amar Singh not resigning despite being found guilty of holding an office of profit? Why is the NDA-led Jharkhand Government pushing through an ordinance to save many MLAs, who are also holding positions of profit? The question remains whether the BJP and SP MPs and MLAs holding dual posts will have the courage and dignity to resign and seek re-election as the Congress chief did. If they don't have the courage and honesty, they should just shut up. However, the Government should pass a legislation that disqualifies those holding dual positions, both from the membership of Parliament and the office of profit they hold.

Kalyan Ghosh, Kolkata

Dubbing Sonia's resignation drama a sacrifice is disgusting. It was a desperate move to avoid embarrassment of disqualification as an MP similar to Jaya Bachchan's from Parliament. The whole drama is a sad commentary on sycophancy prevailing in the Congress. If Sonia was so concerned, she would not have decided to contest again from Rae Bareli which is nothing but wastage of tax-payers' money. Expenses towards such unproductive exercises like bye-elections caused by irresponsible acts should be borne by politicians who are responsible for them.

V.S. Ganeshan, Bangalore

The law should be suitably amended to follow "one man, one post" policy without any exception. These days many MPs hold office of profit by virtue of being parliamentarians. This practice should be done away with and MPs should use all their energies in looking after their constituencies.

Sonali, Mumbai

It was quite appalling to hear Left leader Sitaram Yechury's views on the office of profit issue, "Left MPs will not tender their resignations. They would rather face disqualification". Comrades must remember that to set moral standard what is required is "not to stick to the letters of law but to the spirit of law".

Asoke C. Banerjee, Kolkata

CRYING OVER SPILT MILK

Having served the co-operative dairy sector for over four decades with dedication and commitment, Verghese Kurien became a pawn in the unfolding drama of state politics ("On the Milk Van No More", April 3). The tragedy of dirty politics has hit us once again. Raghvendra Singh, Vadodara Nobody thought the "Milkman" would be removed in such a shabby way (under threat of a no-confidence motion). Prabhas Chandra, Mumbai Kurien's heir should have knowledge of milk and milk products, or the movement will go to the dogs. Pusp Ranjan, Delhi

Justice Overdue

There are innumerable cases where witnesses turn hostile, hampering the process of justice ("Criminal Flaws", April 3). This alarming trend undoubtedly calls for reforms in the criminal justice system and the recent Supreme Court directive to sessions and high courts to deal firmly with witnesses turning hostile or giving false evidence in criminal cases is laudable. It is a step in the right direction which will go a long way in ensuring justice.

Rohit Kumar, on e-mail

The suggestion of a severe punishment for witnesses who change their testimony, if inducted into the statute and implemented will result in a disaster in our country, where corruption is rampant in police force and investigating agencies. It is likely to result in even more cases of miscarriage of justice in the country, where persons accused of serious charges occupy ministerial berths in the Central Government. The real reasons behind abysmally low conviction rate in crimes like murder and rape are rampant corruption, incompetence and connivance of the police, and investigating agencies and inordinate delay in the judicial system where cases drag on for years. This delay provides the opportunity for manipulation of witnesses and destruction of evidence. Amendments in law provisioning the punishment for witnesses turning hostile would prove non-productive. The courts should rely more on circumstantial evidence rather than oral testimony.

Shanti Bhushan, on e-mail

Missing Link

Deciphering the real purpose behind the India Today Conclave is mind-boggling. Was this assembly of well-known personalities aimed at alleviating the dismal and painful poverty situation in our country? Or was it just a publicity gimmick to enable the magazine increase its revenue and provide a platform to the well-known businessmen to market themselves? One sore point of such a grand meet was the conspicuous absence of the people from the less privileged section to speak about their misery and seek solutions and also of defence personnel to present the threat and security concerns of the country. With these vital inputs missing, did the Conclave achieve what it had aimed at?

Air Marshall (retd) P.K. Jain, Chandigarh

In true sense, bridging the divide means achieving the true potential of India of creating a society where there will not be huge economic or educational inequality among people of different castes or between men and women. The responsibility rests with the leaders of the GenNext and they should leave no stone unturned to fulfil it.

Rujuta Parikh, Ankleshwar

Ungodly Picture

Maqbool Fida Husain is omnipresent in the media, not only for his brilliance but also for his objectionable and obscene paintings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses ("Force of 50", March 20). His contentious painting depicting "Bharat Mata" in nude demonstrates his abhorrence towards our culture and portrays his disgusting psyche. What gives him the licence to insult Goddesses or national symbols for artistic perfection? Such blasphemous artists need to be ostracised and ignored in the list of powerful people.

uresh Khosla, Chandigarh

United We Stand

US President George W. Bush's visit to Delhi has accentuated the interdependence between the US and India ("Grand Success", March 13). "The US with a short history and an old nation differs from India, an old nation with a short history." However, both are democracies and committed to working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It is in the interest of both the countries to focus on the opportunities and threats that lie ahead, particularly the war against terrorism.

Denis Khan, Mumbai

Plainspeak

With 4,096 km of porous border, 172 terrorist camps, and spiralling extremism and religious fundamentalism, frankly speaking, India has a festering problem on its eastern border ("Frankly Speaking", April 3). The outcome of Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's visit to Delhi was short of substance. It was no surprise but it is high time that India takes some stringent action to check influx of refugees from Bangladesh which not only creates demographic imbalance but also poses potential danger to the security of the nation.

H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana, Mysore

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