The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, July 18, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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M A I L B A G

Wasting Rs 700 cr for political gains

The news item “Nitish threatens to resign” (July 10) reveals the working of the mind of Indian politicians in general. For personal political gains the Railway Minister wishes to squander Rs 700 crore of public money on the creation of new railway zones of doubtful utility to rail travellers — the end users.

The need of the hour is to spend on the safety of passengers, laying of new railway lines in remote areas, replacement of the old worn-out rail tracks and old bridges which are often the cause of tragic rail accidents. But this does not seem to be the priority of the Railway Ministry. The common man only understands that such wasteful expenditure results in more unbearable taxes. It is also not understandable how the Union Cabinet approved this faulty scheme which was even objected to by the CAG and the Railway Convention Committee.

Let such a profligate minister quit and let the Union Government crash which has so far wasted its tenure to appease one faction or the other of the NDA at the expense of urgent national priorities.

S.B. Singh, Jalandhar

Why tax pilgrims?
The government of J&K has levied a Rs 10 per head tax on the pilgrims who intend to perform the Amarnath Yatra. Is this tax justifiable when the Centre subsidises the Haj pilgrimage?
Manju, New Delhi

Varsity making money

GND University is indulging in making some quick money from students and not sticking to the rules laid down in its own prospectuses. Take the inaugural MBA course started by the university in collaboration with DAV College, Jalandhar. Firstly, no ad was put in newspapers to announce the start of this course. The cost of a 34-page prospectus was Rs 500. A demand draft of the same amount (Rs 500) was required as examination fee for the entrance test.

The entrance test, interview and group discussion were held recently and 14.6.02 and given weightage of 70 per cent, 15 per cent and 15 per cent. The marks obtained should have been displayed separately to ensure transparency in the system. How are the students to decipher merely from their ranks that no backdoor entries are being made?

The date fixed for counselling was postponed time and again. GNDU claims that this is being done for the students whose results have not yet been declared. Are we to believe that GNDU does not know when its own results are being declared or for that matter those of other universities? If that is the case, then why was it in a hurry to conduct the entrance test on May 30, 2002 and collect money, when most of its own results were pending?

Nikita Singh, Jalandhar

The Punjabi spirit

Mr V.N. Datta in his article “The vitality and erosion of Punjabi spirit” (July 10) laments that “the Punjabi language is looked on as an exclusive monopoly of the Sikhs and Punjab history is being taught and researched as Sikh history, pure and simple.” Sadly this is true. Though Mr Datta has sketched the making of Punjabi nationalism correctly during the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he prefers to call it “Punjabiyat” instead of nationalism. The Maharaja knitted the three religious streams of Sikhism, Islam and Hinduism in what was then the true spirit of Punjabi political nationalism.

After the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849, however, this spirit of Punjabi political nationalism broke down. The Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus once again became separate political entities in the late 19th century and remained so throughout the 20th century and once again relapsed into their old religious animosities.

The Punjabi Muslim found his national aspirations through the medium of Urdu and thought of a separate Islamic state. The Punjabi Hindu realised his national aspirations through the Hindi language and propogated a Hindu state. The Sikh was left to find his national aspirations through the Punjabi language and held on to the last to Punjabi nationalism.

In 1947 Hindu and Muslim politicians divided the Punjab on communal lines. The Sikh political leadership at that period opposed the partition of the Punjab on a sectarian basis. Thus the Sikhs were left holding the baby i.e. of Punjabi nationalism. Therefore, Mr Datta may feel that Punjabi and the Sikhs are synonymous. He is correct, but for the wrong conclusions he has come to.

Simranjit Singh Mann, MP, New Delhi