M A I L B A G

Cong victory: Tasks before Sonia Gandhi

The Congress has reaped the benefits of opening up to the people and alliances. Mrs Sonia Gandhi herself had shown great humility in making friends and influencing people. Let that new-found spirit of opening up not be squandered by reverting to the traditional Congress culture of disdain and contempt for others.

Mrs Gandhi should avail herself of the opportunity to prove that if Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee could ensure stability for a full term by managing over 20 partners, she too can rise to the occasion. The victory for the secular parties as against the defeat of the NDA should not be hijacked and monopolised by the Congress to start its classic party culture of hauteur and haughtiness. The Congress should understand that India has travelled great distance from its first phase of 40 years. A lot has changed since then and it will have to change to a new party geared to serve the people and not resurrected to promote the politics of coterie or pampering the chosen few.

The old Rajiv truism should not be forgotten when common people were left with crumbs of the state largesse while the bureaucrats skimmed off the rest. The reform process had focussed on the upper echelons of society and neglected the great majority of lower income groups and rural population that forms the bulk of voters.

GHULAM MUHAMMED, Mumbai

II

I congratulate Mrs Sonia Gandhi for the spectacular success of her party and the allies in the Lok Sabha elections. It was a well-deserved victory. As India is a big country, governance for progress and unity will not be an easy task for the new Prime Minister. There are trying times ahead for Mrs Gandhi and her colleagues. Good luck!

S.C. KAPOOR, Noida

III

The NDA’s debacle shouldn’t surprise any citizen. Its policies and programmes were designed to benefit the middle and upper middle class who have grown richer at the cost of the poor in the last six years. For example, in today's condition, when for a government job there are thousands in the queue, it is not the government employee who merits attention or deserves sops but the millions of aspirants who despite having equally good qualifications and other credentials continue to remain as applicants.

Our Finance Ministers, in successive budgets, had given maximum benefits to the taxpayers and had surplus money to dabble in shares or make investments. However, they cared less for those who find it difficult to have even two square meals a day. Even the famine deaths and instances of suicides by the farmers failed to open the eyes of the government.

Sadly, while only 10 per cent of students in big cities has access to schools with computers, 60 per cent of them in rural areas study in schools without buildings and black boards. It is time the attention of the new government shifted from the privileged few to the deprived lot. Operation Black Board has to supersede Operation Computer.

The focus has to be on the millions who do not get paid even 20 per cent wages of what the government employees get for the same work. Social equality and social balance can't be ignored in a country like India. There is nothing like absolute. Things have to viewed in respect of what others are getting in the given conditions. The new Finance Minister would do well to divert resources to improve the plight of the poor.

BHARTENDU SOOD, Chandigarh

IV

The Lok Sabha election results indicate a well-deserved defeat of the over-confident BJP leaders who held the nation to ransom by halting all development work and economy. Where was the need for a mid-term poll when the nation had a stable government? Another reason for the BJP defeat is that its leaders were always dreaming in the air without realising the ground realities.

The BJP, the RSS and the VHP should confess guilt of their over-spoken leaders like Mr Narendra Modi and Mr Vinay Kathiar by publicly condemning them for using rough language in the campaigning against Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

MADHU AGRAWAL, Delhi

V

It is now crystal clear that the India Shining campaign of the NDA government in the run-up to the elections was nothing but a hoax. The verdict proves that it is not mobile phones or satellite channels that count for the common man but roti, kapada aur makaan.

The way the NDA projected its hi-tech achievements, it looked not more than a cruel joke. As far as the new government at the Centre is concerned, the powers that be should understand what the common people want to actually make them feel better. If they are serious of making India really shine, then they should first explore ways and means to provide them the basic amenities.

SUMEET SETH, Kaithal

VI

The Congress and its allies won the Lok Sabha elections riding high on anti-incumbency. I sincerely feel that the “India Shining” and “Feel-Good” slogans have boomeranged on the NDA government.

There was absolutely no need for the NDA to dissolve the Lok Sabha before the completion of its tenure. In the process, precious time of the government was wasted as it was in a caretaker capacity and could not show results. I feel the manner in which some leaders had targeted Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin during the campaigning did not go well with the voters.

DEEPAK KUMAR VIDHYARTHI, Muzaffar Nagar (UP)

It’s time for introspection It is time for introspection. The most glaring failure is the failure of the media to keep their nose to the ground. Have we not seen the media glued to the metros, pandering to their self-created page 3 celebrities, repeatedly featuring the self-styled publicity seeking experts and not reporting about happenings where the real India is? Had the media been alert, the nation would not have been surprised or stunned. Amazingly, no opinion polls were anywhere near the mark. Even the exit polls were not done on the basis of any scientific methodology. The so-called pollsters and psephologists are merely media barons, news readers or anchors on TV, for which the only skill required is command over the language. What is further galling is that the NDA government was not correctly informed regarding the mood of the people by the official intelligence agencies which were either incompetent or did not enjoy the confidence of the rulers. Either way, a sad state for a country venturing into the developed countries’ club! MAJOR ATUL DEV (retd), New Gurgaon