L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

US voters must inspire Indians too

Keeping Obama’s apprehensions of major job outsourcing to Indians in mind, the opening of FDIs by India should relax the US a bit and it need not be so averse to Indian technocrats who contribute well to its economy (editorial ‘Obama again’, November 8). Our only fear is that the US should not play a double game with India — talk one thing on Indian soil and change its tone in Pakistan; not support India when it comes to China; or deal with terrorism selectively. Obama should also refrain from talking about India and Pakistan in the same breath. India has its own identity as a responsible nation of the world with the largest working democracy.

We must deal with the US on an equal footing, keeping in view our national interests. The re-elected US President would do well to place India on a higher priority with some semblance of equality.

The maturity of the Americans who did not get swayed by speeches of ‘change’ by a rich Presidential candidate is praiseworthy. The middle class there voted for continuity and hope as promised by Obama, who sounded sincere.

The losing party also needs to be commended for agreeing to work in sync with the winner in the interest of the country and for shedding all malice.

Col R D SINGH (retd), Ambala

HARPREET SANDHU, Ludhiana

III

The intensely fought campaign witnessed the two presidential candidates face to face three times, debating critical national issues gnawing at the economy and foreign policy, never hitting each other below the belt.

This resulted in a well-informed electorate to form a sanguine and sagacious opinion about their choice of the man and the party to shape their destiny for the next four years.

The predicted nail-biting contest proved an easy cakewalk for the incumbent Obama. Mitt Romney, the rich plutocrat, lost out due to his perceived indifference to the pain of the middle class.

Dr AMRIT SETHI, Bathinda

It’s different!

Time will tell whether factionalism within the BJP is working in favour of BJP president Nitin Gadkari or is it a Congress gain. Based on the basis of RSS ideologue and Chartered Accountant S Gurumurthy’s investigation into Gadkari’s hazy business practices, the party seems to have temporarily relieved Gadkari on technical grounds. The BJP has lost significance of its logo of ‘the party with a difference’ and has displayed involuntarily that it is no better than other corrupt political parties, particularly the Congress.

People want to know is it that ‘there is no alternative’ (TINA) factor which is keeping Gadkari glued to his seat or does the BJP not have a leader who can lead the party in the 2014 general elections. Gadkari himself should have stepped down in the interest of the party to prove that he is above board.

BIDYUT KUMAR CHATTERJEE, Faridabad

II

There is a lot of hue and cry over Gadkari’s statement in which he compared Vivekananda with Dawood Ibrahim on the basis of their IQ. Any two persons on opposite sides can surely have equal IQ or wisdom. Ravna was a great intellectual well versed in all the four Vedas. However, he followed the wrong course and eventually met with his nemesis. Similarly, a great scientist who produces an atom bomb is a man of paramount IQ but it cannot be denied that he causes unparalleled catastrophe to humanity.

Dr VINOD K CHOPRA, Hamirpur

Why VK Singh only?

Certain contents in the article “Cabinet reshuffle, yes” (November 7) by one of India’s most eminent journalists, B.G. Verghese, have shocked me. He talks about shifting of the Oil Ministry from Jaipal Reddy, a collective Cabinet responsibility, bureaucrats serving their ministers rather than the government. In later paragraphs he espouses the cause of Vedanta Aluminium Ind and some other industries. He has not blamed anyone by name for blocking development activities due to environmental reasons.

However, the only name he found time and space to launch a diatribe is against General V.K. Singh for his support to cane growers, demanding dissolution of Parliament, saying that it is the result of the fact that he was allowed to run riot when he was in service. Please let General Singh do what he wishes to within the framework of the Constitution and law of the land.

Brig Kirpal Singh Grewal (retd), Panchkula

Who follows idols now?  In the good old days, Union Railway Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri owned moral responsibility for a rail accident and resigned. And here is a national political party which is rallying behind a leader who has been charged with tax evasion, money laundering and even grabbing farmers’ land. A party, which forced a whole session of Parliament to be wasted alleging the government of shielding the corrupt, is morally bound to inform the people in an unambiguous manner what it intends to do with its own graft-tainted president. The BJP, like most other political parties in India, also lacks openness and internal democracy. The BJP seems to have lost even the last chance of saving its face, as also a measure of political autonomy, by giving Gadkari a clean chit instead of asking him to quit. After all, it is not the first time when the BJP’s credibility has been at stake. Bangaru Laxman has already stained it as much. VED GULIANI, Hisar