Left does it yet again This refers to Mr Chandan Mitra’s article, “Left out again” (Cutting Ed, Sunday Pioneer, July 6). Erudite as he is, the line quoted by him from Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s “Rageeb Se” are, however, not correct. The correct line is “hum ne is ishq main kya khoya hai kya seekha hai”.
One vividly recalls that when Mr Manmohan Singh was Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government and rose to present his first Budget, the Leftists, led by Mr Somnath Chatterjee, stalled the proceedings of Parliament, alleging that the paragraphs in the Budget speech about structural reforms had been borrowed verbatim from World Bank documents. However, the Narasimha Rao regime, even though a minority Government, sailed through. The alleged charge of bribery with respect to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha could not be sustained.
It is ironic that a similar situation faces the Congress today. The current UPA dispensation represented from its very inception an opportunist coalition with disparate outfits. The alliance with the Left was essentially a marriage of convenience. The Left kept dictating terms to the UPA and as a result economic reforms were repeatedly stalled. The withdrawal of the Left’s support has plunged the Government into a political crisis. Now it is shamelessly wooing all and sundry to muster the requisite number to stay in power. RN Chawla New Delhi
Not about energy independence This refers to Mr Swapan Dasgupta’s article, “What if there is a free vote?” (Usual Suspects, Sunday Pioneer, July 13). Mr Dasgupta’s article is all very well but it still does not answer many questions. For example, once the India-US nuclear deal is signed, amendments have to be made to existing domestic legislation to permit private players to enter the nuclear energy sector. If this is one of the cornerstones of energy independence, why should this be based on signing a bilateral agreement? Shouldn’t the Government allow private players to enter the field irrespective of the 123 Agreement?
Also, wouldn’t this be an open admission that Government monopoly of the sector has not worked? Then again, whatever happened to the hype of thorium being the fuel of choice for India and all the talk about fast breeder reactors? Is there a failure on this front also? R Rao via e-mail
We don’t need this nuclear deal Apropos the article, “A historic blunder” (Cutting Ed, Sunday Pioneer, July 13) I agree with Mr Chandan Mitra that for a Prime Minister, who is unlikely to be remembered appreciatively by future generations, thanks to four years of non-performance, such a move is understandable. Except remaining preoccupied with his single agenda of pushing through India-US nuclear deal, which only few comprehend, there has been no worthwhile contribution from him that a common man could remember. A common man knows less about nuclear technology as opposed to inflation.
Furthermore, there is no denying that the nuclear deal will make India a pawn in the hands of America and thus bring the country under perpetual bondage. Why should we support a deal, which purportedly needs the support of clandestine deals to run concurrent to it? The deal can in no way bode well for us. JL Ganjoo New Delhi
Don’t defame Islam This is not the first time that I have picked up my pen to counter the filth that is repeatedly poured on Islam in Sunday Pioneer by columnists like Mr Kanchan Gupta and Mr NS Rajaram. Though historically speaking, Mr Rajaram’s article, “Revisiting Islam” (July 6) was complete rubbish, what disappointed me the most was the ignorant and criminal misquotation of two verses from the Quran.
If the author has himself read the Quran and not only those verses excerpted in Sunday Pioneer and in Mr Arun Shourie’s articles, then I request him to publish the five verses preceeding and following the first quoted verse. Only when the concerned verses are read in their entirety that readers will truly understand the context of war the verses speak of.
As far as maintaining a large and powerful army is concerned, I do expect, as everybody else does, that the Indian Army will be strong enough to strike terror in the hearts of the Chinese, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and even the American Governments so that they dare not dream of attacking us. Does that make me a terrorist? Please think before you publish such articles. Yassir Khan Hindu College, Delhi
