M A I L B A G

Marxist road to nowhere

Marxism as Mr Hari Jaisingh showed in his article “Marxist road to nowhere; Flawed ideology, misplaced zeal” (Dec 1), is so structured in the body politic as to create conditions hospitable to violence as a way of life.

As the situation obtains today, there is a distinct possibility of the disappearance of communism in India. But it is at the political level and I use the concept of politics as an all-embracing phenomenon.

The trapings of Marxism would remain, but the soul of Marxism would be gone. Communist leadership has totally failed to grasp the human values of Indian ethos.

Marxism made violence a way of life. Social values cannot be promoted by projecting violence as instrument of change.

In the beginning, the people were influenced, no doubt, by the slogan that wealth will not be concentrated in a few hands but dispersed wide.

Umed Singh Gulia
Gohana

India’s past: The writer has aptly observed that “while the Chinese communists were, first of all, nationalist and were chauvinistic about the ‘greatness’ of their country and its ‘great’ civilisation, the Indian communists were willing to forget India’s past.”

The fact is that Indian communists are not only willing to forget India’s past, but have contempt for anything Indian, and hate Hinduism. This is the most important and basic reason of their failure in India. China and Russia have been their spiritual homelands.

Anand Prakash
Chandigarh

No dissidence: Though Jyoti Basu had remained the Chief Minister of West Bengal state for 23 years, he could not set a good example for good governance. His government was stable as communists never allowed dissidence within the party as in the case of other parties.

As a matter of fact the Indian communists have never cared for the nation but were eager to take orders from Moscow or Beijing. Hence they left no ideology for the country.

Subhash C. Taneja
Rohtak

Khanna vs the state

Congratulations on your forthright comments on the Supreme Court verdict in the case of Mr V.K. Khanna, former Chief Secretary, Punjab.

As you have pointed out the state government has shamelessly thrown norms of morality out of the window and hounded an upright officer for nearly four years. Mr Khanna only carried out the written directions of the incumbent Chief Minister. Is that an offence? Moreover it is the duty of a senior officer to take notice of cases of apparent corruption and wrongdoing by officers serving under him. Indeed this is one of the important services that the taxpaying citizen expects from senior bureaucrats, but seldom gets.

While the general thrust of your editorial comment is laudable, you seemed to have missed a basic point by describing this as a case of bureaucratic rivalry. From all accounts the officers involved in the cases were far junior to Mr Khanna. Secondly the highly dubious, if not fraudulent manner in which a big chunk of valuable government land was “gifted” to the Punjab Cricket Association cannot be whitewashed, as you have done, as a service to Indian cricket.

Shorit R. Ghosh
New Delhi

Jobs for retired judges

Mr S.S. Sodhi deserves kudos for his brilliant and most timely article “Assignments for retired Judges” (Nov 27), focusing attention on a growing/dangerous practice offering attractive assignments to judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court after their retirement with all the concomitant ill-consequences.

By and large, I share Mr Sodhi’s views on the subject as adumbrated in the illuminating article. The practice is no longer confined to the “rarest of rare” cases as was reportedly the case in the good old days; it has become quite rampant, candidly speaking.

Still worse, it is the “tainted judges” who generally get away with the major portion of the “cake”; the upright who scrupulously treaded the “straight and narrow” path during their professional career are just allowed to fade away, as the article points out.

No doubt, the undesirable practice in question has badly impaired the vital pillar of democracy and, as such, can be allowed to continue unchecked only at our national peril.

Tara Chand
Ambota (Una)

“Death at 70 kmph”

Your thoughtful editorial “Death at 70 kmph” (Dec 4) opens with the poignant and despairing statement: “India abounds in frightening opportunities for an abrupt end to life”. The statement can well be rephrased with a question mark: “Is there no sanctity for life in India”? How else can we explain such a callous disregard to safety norms in running our trains which carry millions of our common people?

It is not as if a section of the rail was fractured (causing the gruesome accident) but the entire Railway administration seems to be fractured with the Minister pitching her tent in Midnapore and the top officials working disjointedly, without their “couplings”.

Let the Railways pay heed to your warning that they “may well end up being the biggest killer” unless they start mending their fences without any further delay. Time is running out.

Kangayam R. Rangaswamy
Durham (USA)

Postgraduation at GMCH

I have been reading with interest the idea of starting postgraduation at GMCH 32, Chandigarh. I think this is a step being taken in haste. The college is in formative years. The buildings of the hospital and the laboratories are yet to be completed and equipped. The college has been granted the temporary recognition by the Medical Council of India. The deficiencies pointed out by them are yet to be addressed to and on top of it we start thinking of the postgraduation.

We should think about producing a first rate graduate rather than venture out on this aspect. The undergraduate teaching needs to be strengthened rather than producing half baked specialists. I do not think that college has the required number of staff and the facilities for the same.

Dr. Arvind Rajwanshi
Singapore