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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 16:02:35 -0400 Strange are the ways of mankind. When you hurt somebody, it is all part of the game. When someone hurts you, you kick and scream. Is the author trying to justify supporting the AA or NUPA or whatever the terrorists are called? Why then do we scream foul when Pakistan supports terrorists in Kashmir? How does the author know that the arms which were going to Cox's Bazaar (which seems to be the distribution point for NE terrorists too) wouldn't be funneled off to terrorists organisations in the NE. Terrorist organisations are known to work with each other. I would rather condemn the ministry of defence and the armed services for having supported terrorists organisations so far (whoever they may be), rather than for having stopped them this time. Whose human rights would you rather protect, the terrorists or the countless innocent victims they shower with bullets and bombs ? Rajesh
Date sent: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 19:21:27 EDT I have been watching the rise of Jaswant Singh in Indian politics for some time now. I first met Jaswant in 1953, when he and I along with some 30 odd other boys were called by the Air Force Selection Board at Dehradun for an interview prior to gaining entry into the Joint Services Wing (which later was to become the National Defence Academy). I still remember that Jaswant had the chest number 1 and I had my chest number as 24. The chest numbers were given to candidates for ease of identification by the selection board staff. I think the numbering was done on the basis of age and it seems Jaswant was the youngest of all of us. A group photo was taken at the selection board and I still happen to have that photo. I believe only 11 of us were selected including myself and Jaswant. We joined the JSW in January 1954 as members of the 11th JSW course. At the Academy Jaswant excelled in horse riding and I believe he was a member of the Academy riding team, which was the most glamorous thing in those days. Most of us contented ourselves with playing cricket or athletics and swimming. When it came to horses we were likely to find some excuse or the other to avoid the torture! At some point of time during our training Jaswant must have decided to switch from the Air Force to the Army. At the end of two years in the NDA, we the Air Force blokes left for the Air Force Flying College, Jodhpur, and Jaswant continued with Army training at Khadakvasla and later at the IMA at Dehradun, and our ways parted. I hear that he left the army after some years of service rising to the rank of a major, and joined politics. I met him next in 1984, when he as a member of a team of MPs accompanying the President of India, Shri Venkataraman, visited a state of the art radar unit which I was commanding in the Punjab sector. We had a brief reunion and reminisced about our NDA days. But the delegation was official and high powered and the two of us had different roles to perform. We did not get much time together. However, it was nice to meet him again. Now he is a very big shot and I am a retired Air Force officer having served my country for 38 years and now living with my children in the USA. I feel very happy that a person who was my colleague from the young age of about 15 and who I believe must see the plight of our country with the same perceptions as I do, is at the helm of affairs. He cannot bring about miracles. But undoubtedly, in the lunatic Indian political scene, he is one of the very few who could be expected to hold a sane and visionary approach to the our myriad problems. I wish him Godspeed and good luck. He is going to need it. Ravi Kumar
Date sent: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 00:30:00 +0530 Dear Vir Sanghvi, First of all let me admit that I am your admirer. Secondly, let me also admit that I fear that you are gradually going the way Praful Bidwai, Amulya Ganguli, Vinod Mehta and a few other journalists have gone -- BJP bashing. Your articles all over the Indian news scene -- Hindustan Times, Rediff, etc, continuously hunt for items which denigrate the BJP. Admittedly, not all is well with the BJP. But you would probably also admit (?) that ALL can't be bad with them. Thirdly, I fully agree with your backing Jaswant Singh. I think he is a honest gentleman who can be entrusted with greater responsibilities. Anil Shukla
Date sent: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 01:56:28 -0500 I get the sense reading some of your columnists that they try to outdo each other by being cute with the English language, at times, at the expense of their own Indian languages. Vir Sanghvi calling "Yashwant" (a perfectly correct Sanskrit word) a Bihari mispronunciation of "Jaswant" (a Rajasthani distortion of Yashwant) is like calling "Vir" a mispronunciation of "Bir". Some of us who can read and understand your English columns happen to be educated in the Indian languages you may not care about. Therefore, please entertain us, but maintain your domain. N Singh
Date sent: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 10:27:03 -0400 The first open indication that Sonia Gandhi has no roots in this country and does not care or want to understand its values and culture has come to the fore by her action on 10 MLAs, some of whom are over 70 years old, are freedom fighters and fought hard to get independence for this country. That all she is interested is in gaining power at any cost and did not even bat an eyelid in finding out to whom she was issuing show cause notices is all the more alarming. It is time that literate and educated people from this great country of 900 million plus voice their opinions and dismay that we and specially the Congress cannot find a Indian citizen by birth to lead the oldest party and maybe the country. Jayalalitha and Thackeray are absolutely right when they ask 'can an Indian become Italy's prime minister if s/he marries an Italian?' If these people (the MLAs) were not disciplined in their behaviour they would never have been able to undergo the sacrifices to push the British out of this country. Now we have a question about their discipline, a question which says 'ARE OUR FREEDOM FIGHTERS DISCIPLINED?' and a question raised by somebody who comes from the same continent which exported colonialism to the world. The details of the Maharashtra issue are not so important because anyway the Congress won more seats than it was supposed to in the council election (for which the show cause notices were issued). What is important is how the matter was concluded in an authoritarian/totalitarian fashion. The ramifications are quite alarming, if not unchecked.. A concerned indian
Date sent: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 00:17:00 -0700 The representatives are shy of going to their constituencies because, they are either corrupt or are sympathisers of Naxalites or the state government simply does not supplement laws like TADA with a Rs 2 crore per MP/MLA for constituency development. Only making laws like TADA will not create a long term solution. We need strict TADA like laws, modern weapons to police, unshaken support to police and monetary support to MP/MLAs to do some development and Rozgar creation immediately. If N Chandrababu Naidu passes this TADA-like law and gives each MP/MLA Rs 5 crore each in the Naxalite-infested region, it will not take long to minimise this problem in a matter of one or two years. Words without action will prove to be a recipe for failure.
Date sent: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 16:35:29 -0300 She says domestic politics is responsible for India going nuclear. Then how does she explain the export of American missile technology to China???? How does she explain the American nuclear tests AFTER the Cold War ended? Speaking rubbish over and over again doesn't make you smart.
Date sent: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 00:09:33 +0800 Albright has no understanding of India and its politics, and does not have any idea of what India and Pakistan mean to Indians. Because dirty linen is washed in public in democratic India, she can comment in anyway she likes. Because unfortunately we have very short-sighted leaders like Laloo and Mulayam. Vigyani
Date sent: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:19:59 EDT If there was ever one shameless, duplicitious hypocrite, it is this Buta Singh! His pontificating answers are ludicrous. He is under indictment for subverting democracy by buying votes in Parliament, yet he is a 'social worker'! He does not care to be in Parliament, yet the moment the Congress booted him out, he fights an election as an Independent! He loves the Congress to death, he has eternal respect for Soniaji (I wonder if he has a spine or spaghetti in his back) and yet he will not join the Congress (but then, he cannot tell us the truth that the Congress does not want him)! He was hounded out from the present government by Jayalalitha's missive and yet he says there are no permanent enemies/friends in politics -- once again a case of spaghetti-spine! He was the home minister at the time of the shilanyaas, yet when things become too hot to answer, it becomes a sub-committee decision! I wonder if he would be so self-effacing, if there were credits to be taken for some wonderful results achieved by his department? There was need to form a government so he supported the BJP, but that need suddenly vanished, the moment he was dropped as a minister! For 29 days, the BJP was not communal, now it is! He was going to court against Pramod Mahajan and now he thinks of the prime minister's high office, so he won't! Do these Butas take us all for granted and think we are eternal fools or do they really live in a make-believe world of their own? On one hand I give credit to your interviewer for bringing out the worst in this petty politician, on the other, I pity you for giving undue importance to such rascals who are fit for the company of the likes of Subramanian Swamy.
Gaurang G Vaishnav
Date sent: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:30:13 +0800 I strongly disagree with the kind of questions your journalist asked Mr Buta Singh. In fact, the questions were more provocative in nature or rather they were answers by themselves. Such journalists are not journalists, but they say what they think. I think you should not employ such journalists. You will never find these people asking questions about mass killings in Kashmir or about any national interests. They like gossiping, that's all.
Date sent: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 14:18:28 -0700 The Rediff editorial board probably has taken a decision to recruit a bunch of fundamentalists like Syed Firdaus. In this entire interview, he is seen forcing anti-BJP statements in the mouth of Buta Singh. The entire interview is about the Babri Masjid and around it. This is a highly deplorable practice adopted by growing number of interviewers. Does Rediff have any guidelines for such people? Rather than letting Buta Singh speak freely, this approach of putting words in the mouth shows the heights of fundamentalism of recent interviewers like him. Now, after just looking at the name of the interviewer, one can fairly predict what will be the content. Well, we have to live with these people, but ordinary readers have to be more and more cautious these days.
Date sent: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 14:02:19 -0500 Stop interviewing scraps like Buta Singh.
Date sent: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 13:27:45 -0500 It is very demeaning to your readers to bring interviews of self-serving politicians such as Buta Singh and Subramanian Swamy, time and again. At a time when the whole nation should speak in one voice, these people are damaging the national interest by irresponsible attacks just to promote their selfish intersts.
TR Rao
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