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ELECTIONS '98
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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 09:28:36 -0600 No thought. The judgment given is the best in human history. However corrupt the leader may be, but this kind of assassination indicated the LTTE's inhuman attitude and they are rightfully punished. However, one point that must also be kept in mind is whether the LTTE was the only hand behind it? What about the other Congress leaders who surely had a hand in this assassination? It is natural that the assassination of an ex-prime minister would not have been possible without the hand of some Congress leaders. What about their extradition and punishment?
Date sent: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 07:54:13 -0800 It looks like a mass execution in Saudi Arabia where everyone is guilty. Has the government considered that the information to assassinate Rajiv may have been privy and many of the accused may not have known about the plot? Blood thirsty is our CBI and the judge who wants to teach the Sri Lankans a lesson for misbehaviour. There may be some who may have known about the plot all along but, for merely buying a battery one should not be hanged. If we think that these Tamils deserved what they got, then one day such justice will be handed over to Indian citizens. We don't as yet know if the police that investigated the assassination used any third degree methods to draw the confessions. Don't we all know of police brutality and the cover-ups that take place?
Date sent: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 22:28:11 -0500 Rajiv Gandhi did not initiate the reforms. On the contrary he supported the Chandra Shekhar government which drove India to the verge of bankruptcy and had to obtain a loan from a London bank by mortgaging gold. We all very well remember that the gold was transported by planes to London. Economic reforms were imposed by the World Bank and the IMF on India for bailing the country from bankruptcy, as they have done just now with Indonesia. Political corruption, public sector inefficiency have contributed to bankruptcy and as it continues India may be the next target in the Asian economic turmoil.
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 17:56:55 -0500 It's one of the finest articles I have read. And I definitely share the same views and ideas. My view is that it's no use giving my vote to any political party, because I am 200% sure it's going to be wasted. Maybe that's the reason I have never cast my vote for any political party. I know that's not the solution to the problems in India, but I don't find any politician intelligent and worthy enough of my vote. I don't want to name any politicians here, but everyone knows of the big list of corrupt and/or criminal politicians. Satish Boston
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 21:17:19 EST I do not know why we Indians give so much importance to our leaders. Our leaders were neither immaculate nor omnipotent. They were weak leaders of a weak race. Recently, I saw a show on the Nehru dynasty on Discovery channel. It was really an eye opener to me. Our leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Krishna Menon, Rajiv Gandhi, each and every one of them were incredibly weak. They were victims of their own culture, nation, and race. In fact they were the product of an incredibly individualistic and weak race that has no sense of history. (I am an Indian living in the United States). Our non-violence is a sham. Our nonalignment was a stupid blunder, and our foreign policy has no meaning whatsoever. The problem is not with the Nehrus, Gandhis or other leaders of India (both pre- Independence or post Independence.) The problem is with the nation. The problem is with the race. The problem is with the culture. We are a people who piss on the street, burn our daughters-in-law, mix water and milk and sell them to the babies. In that contest, it is entirely meaningless whether Mr Gandhi (I mean Mahatma Gandhi) and Mr Nehru were right or wrong, successful or unsuccessful. It is equally meaningless to attribute omnipotence or impotence to them. We can only write history of the people in India and that is, they (the Indians) do not have a sense of history. The rest is wasting of time. The truth is Indians are engaged in a genetic self destruction. The only people who have a sense of history are those who follow Semitic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and, of course, the Marxists of the world. The people of India, the people who profess the religions that were born in India, have no world view, no historical view, no dualistic thinking. (I and you. Believer and nonbeliever. The saved and the doomed. Native and foreigner. Citizen and the alien. People of my kind and your kind...) Nor do our leaders have such dualistic philosophical views. Our leaders are born to lose. We are born to lose. Our little silly meaningless victories (that our kids getting Ivy League education, a few millionaires of Indian origin in Silicon Valley) these are all exceptions. Today, we are the poorest people on the face of earth. Today, we are the weakest people on the earth. In a few days, an Italian is going to be the prime minister of India. What a joke, and what a misery....
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jane 1998 09:30:53 -0600 Is it the same Satish Sharma who was charged with favouritism in allocating gas stations for his relatives and friends? Wasn't there a move by the Congress to deny tickets to people with a criminal background and chargesheets? Srinivas Murthy
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 11:28:24 -0600 What goes around, comes around! I think the ex-PM should retire gracefully. If he really asked the guy he sees in the mirror daily he would get the right answer! It's time to get on/ move on. May be if he wrote his memoirs, he would have a much easier time earning the money he appears to desire so much!
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 10:32:16 -0600 The article 'Dynasty is knocking on the door' by Saisuresh Sivaswamy is a heap of nonsense. It just shows his sycophantic nature. At this critical time, India needs real MEN with ability to think independently and no spineless creatures with dog-like obediency to foreigners. One might argue that these are his personal opinions and not your official views. But whatever it is, when you give publicity to them in an internationally recognised site, they will take the toll. Especially people with weak will power, it will show the effect. So I sincerely believe and hence urge you to stop publicising such useless articles. The articles by Ms Varsha Bhosle are thought-provoking and inspiring. She thoroughly bashes up pseudo secularists in the media and politics. If you really want India to emerge as a strong nation, you should include more of such articles. Praveen Joshi
Date sent: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 11:41:35 PST Here's my response to the article -- PATHETIC!
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 12:56:50 -0500 The EC is trying to take us to back to the dark ages. I can't but admire their chutzpah in flouting the fundamental rights of India's citizens. The right to freedom of expression is a fundamental right which is above the EC and their egos. I can argue the case that banning opinion polls does not serve any useful purpose as it only lets rumours run amuck. But even that is not needed. Fundamental rights are to be respected irrespective of the merits and demerits of this case. And the EC should understand that with three former senior IAS officers on the panel. Anshu Sharma
Date sent: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:56:20 -0600 It was very nice to read the Gopal Godse interview on Rediff. Some of the points he has brought up are very relevant. The most important is pseudo secularism and appeasement of Muslims. People demand justice for the Babri Masjid, what about the 250, 000 women who were forcibly converted at Noakhali, what about the tortures of Partition, what about the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits? If we believe our leaders these are all bonafide acts and there is no violation of secularism in them. Thanks for presenting this piece. Anand
Date sent: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 11:28:24 -0600 Varsha Bhosle is guilty of two things: a warped mind and a warped style of writing. On second thoughts, perhaps she is being smart after all -- if she wrote a little more clearly, perhaps people would see through her stupidity for what it is and stop reading her column. No, it is precisely her aggressive style that gets her the readership. So what if she insults other professionals and readers who disagree with her? What Ms Bhosle has done in her article (if I interpreted her drivel correctly) is look for selective facts to reinforce her point of view: Hindutva is not an alien concept, she says -- but that does not mean that it is the best philosophy for the 21st century India! What is alien is the chauvinism that it represents through the Shiv Sena and the BJP of today. It is that hatred for other religions that is alien to the true meaning of Hindutva. For is it not true that the original Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma state that there are MANY ways to God, and that is why so many different creeds and beliefs were accepted and encouraged in Hinduism? I think I try to be a good Hindu and I am all for Hindutva, if it stands for tolerance and enterprise and education that made ancient India the bastion of world civilization. I am against it (and so are most reasonable Indians) if it consists of a rigid caste system based on exploitation, the destruction of mosques and the humiliation of missionaries. Similarly, the selective attacks on communists for events that happened in a different age, in a different era are also taken out of context. Condemn Jyoti Basu, if we must, but let us recognise that his state, West Bengal, is now drawing the second largest amount of foreign investments amongst all the states -- and let us put BOTH facts in the right perspective. Decry the communist parties for their past disloyalty -- but let us also recognise that Thackeray's Hindu Rajya consists in showing loyalty to Maharashtra by "banning" people who choose to disagree with him. If that is patriotism, I shudder to think what may happen if this esteemed gentleman gains power at the Centre. A throwback to his good friends, the Nazis, no doubt! As a gentleman, I must apologise if some of my words may have hurt Ms Bhosle's feelings. However, it is only after getting tired of remaining silent that I now have been forced to behave like a lady. Srikanth Rajagopalan Cliffside Park, NJ
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 13:34:12 -0700 While I fully acknowledge the hardships faced by the IPKF and the supreme sacrifices made by the IPKF, I like to point out that a few errors have been made in his article. Tamils were settled in the island nation for many centuries and they had their own kingdom at Jaffna and were prospering. The labourers went in the last century and they settled in the hill country, Kandy. The problem started after independence. The Jaffna Tamils were influential since they were highly educated and were in high ranks. After independence, unlike India, every party wanted to win the majority people. So they decided to clip the Tamils by enforcing strict measures such as quota for Tamils in every aspect of the life (the quota was far below the percentage of the population) to ensure to suppress them. The trouble started in the the 50s and escalated in the 70s when a police party raided a world Tamil conference site and killed many people. But the present trouble started in 1983. The people of Tamil Nadu and Tamil people of Sri Lanka believed in armed struggle to protect themselves from the savage army. The struggle was kidnapped and given a different dimensions by the LTTE later. The IPKF had to step into Lankan problems at this stage. With lots of constraints the IPKF did a commendable job. Let us salute those who sacrificed their lives. Jai Hind. Rajendran
Date sent: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 15:11:32 -0500 'I would prefer a sculptor coming from a family of sculptors rather than a person learning new. I would prefer a weaver from a weaver's family.' I think this is a wrong concept to choose for a country's prime minister. If Mr Hussaini thinks that, by birth or blood, people are smart or intelligent, he is mistaken. People of the Gandhi family have spent their lives either abroad (or) in comforts of their home in Delhi. What do they know about the country anyway?? What do they know about the actual problems facing India? And how can he recommend Sonia Gandhi who was not even willing to take Indian citizenship? I doubt if Sonia even knows how many states are there in our country! If this is the way India Speaks, I'm deeply disappointed. A very disappointed Indian.
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