Why no to a person of foreign origin
The better way to explain to the people of the country as to why Sonia Gandhi is a wrong bet to vote for would be to use logical explanations. The BJP can raise a point by comparing her to Alberto Fujimori, the President of Peru, who later fled to his home country, Japan, after being indicted in graft and gross violation of human rights, and was gladly given asylum by the Japanese. Fujimori was President of Peru from July 28, 1990, to November 17, 2000, when he fled to Japan as allegations of far-reaching corruption in his administration began to emerge. From Japan, he submitted his resignation by fax, but the Peruvian Congress rejected his resignation and removed him from office. The Peruvian government urged Japan for extraditing him but to no avail. At the beginning of March 2003, at the behest of the Peruvian government, Interpol issued an international arrest order against Fujimori on charges that include murder, kidnapping and crimes against humanity. Japan is obliged to carry out a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the allegations of crimes under international law but till date has done nothing in this regard and Fujimori is having a pleasant stay there. Many feel that unless Peru takes the case to the Hague, it will never obtain Japan'snod on Fujimori'sextradition because the Asian country considers him one of its citizens and it does not extradite its citizens. By using the example of Fujimori, the BJP can educate the masses that it would be an unwise move to vote for Congress with Sonia being the prime ministerial candidate.
-Prof S.K. Swal, Pathankot
Excellent exposition:
The most excellent exposition about Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi (Organiser, 11-4-2004) as done by the Editor and others could not be found in any other newspaper. I congratulate you for the same from the bottom of my heart. That Rahul dares to comment as such and our imbecile media, who are sycophants of the dynasty, suppress this important matter is all the more a vicious gang-up to ruin our country.
-Shalil Ghosh, Mumbai
For hassle-free pilgrimage:
After reading the news on Simhastha Kumbh (Organiser, 11-4-2004), I would like to inform the people, specifically to the South Indian, who want to to attend this Kumbh, that it is very difficult to travel by train without any reservation. There is only one direct train to Ujjain. If a person doesn'thave a berth, he will have to undergo lots of problems. The general compartments are only two-one is on the front side and the other at the end of the train. Those who have no berths have to run from one compartment to another compartment, along with children and women. To prevent the pilgrims from facing such troubles, it would be better to provide full information to them regarding the availability of trains from South India along with route map, their stoppages, availability of seats, time taken to have darshan at Mahakaleshwar temple, arrangements for the return journey, details about dharmashalas along with addresses, information about accommodation for the people of low and middle-income class, etc., so that the people can plan the pilgrimage accordingly.
-E.S. Jagadeeshwar, Nellore
Poser to Dr Gupta:
In the article What they found in Ayodhya excavation (Organiser, 18-4-2004), Dr S.P. Gupta has deftly shown the hollowness of Irfan Habib'sarguments, especially on the use of lime mortar in India. But I have a question about the animal bones that have been found in different excavated levels. In Ananda Bazar Patrika, a leftist historian has opined that Rama temple is a Vaishnavite temple. Because Lord Rama is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, animals are not sacrificed in the Vaishnavite temples. So the structure that has been found beneath the Babri structure cannot be that of Rama temple that had been destroyed by Babur. Now, how will Dr Gupta counter this argument? Is there any evidence that animal sacrifice took place in the Vaishnavite temples too?
-Dipan Banerjee, 24 Parganas
Laudable step:
I highly object to Shri Shalil Ghose'sviews (Organiser, 18-4-2004) as he feels “a publication like Organiser does not need such sections as ?World of Women? & ?Kids Org.?.” Instead, it is a very praiseworthy and admirable step taken by the Editor by including the said columns. Children and women must know about the great personalities of India and also about RSS organisation in a right way. The seeds of inspiration must be sown from childhood.
-Dilip Bhattacharya, Jabalpur
Tale of two Goebels
Learned lawyer jet-like Jethmalani
activated by Agnivesh Swami
trying to show as hard as ebony
sings Sibal'sCongress symphony
only to finish as a pitiable phony.
Kapil Sibal's(name) rhymes with Goebels.
Whenever general election comes
Congress spokesperson he becomes
to make truth the first casualty
which is his charismatic quality.
Though now-a-days out of date
he is made Congress candidate
and gloats over Congress glory
only to get it nearer its pillory.
Thus tolls everyday Congress bell
but eventually takes it to hell
and finally to its last knell.
-T.N. Vidyanandan, New Delhi
Selective surveys:
Of late, opinion polls in India have become an integral part of the election scene and organisations that carry out these surveys make a fortune; and in most of the cases their predictions are wrong. These surveys are solely meant for the consumption of the English-speaking Indian middle classes. In fact, most of the English newspapers and TV channels always supported the Congress party to please the Western-educated Indian middle class and the day the BJP came to power, they were totally anti-BJP. They always follow their colonial masters in the West who are anyway anti-BJP. This was proved to be correct in the recent state elections in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The opinion polls conducted by India Today and Outlook predicted easy victory for Congress in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and in Madhya Pradesh, a very close run. Their predictions were proved to be wrong since these results were meant to boost the morale of the Congress party. They were more concerned about the rating of the Chief Ministers than asking the villagers what they thought about the Congress administration in Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan. The opinion polls are structured in such a way that they favour the political party that is commissioning the survey. Most of the newspapers or the TV channels that carry out the survey have their own vested interests and own political agenda. Every time their predictions have been totally wrong and it is hoped that this time too their forecast would be wrong.
-Arun Vaidyanathan, Bletchley (UK)
?India shining? requisites:
Despite the fact that the ?India shining? campaign by the NDA was a good advertising strategy and has kept the mood of urban India upbeat, there are certain factors that would influence the ultimate success of the ?shining factor? like prospect of settlement on Kashmir, the continuing rise in gas and oil prices, President Kerry instead of Bush in the US, etc. Hence, if the NDA returns to power, it must remember certain requisites for the improvement of the ?shining? by focusing public investment on agriculture, accelerating the national highway projects, improving the government expenditure efficiencies, moving fast on water conservation and urban mass transport.
-R.N. Lakhotia, New Delhi
Complicated method:
MCD'sunit area method for house-tax that attracts jail sentence for defaulters will certainly cause much problem to the people. Many people cannot even properly follow the provisions of this scheme. MCD should ascertain the covered area of every premise and issue bills as would be done before. In that case, after the issue of bills, the defaulters can be rightly prosecuted by MCD and the law-abiding citizens will be saved from the harassment. The new scheme is quite complicated and the citizens should not be made to suffer jail sentence when they are willing to pay house-tax to MCD on receipt of the bill.
-Radhe Shyam Gupta, New Delhi
Adhere to norms:
The Press Council of India, which recently met in Delhi under the chairmanship of Justice K. Jayachandra Reddy, warned Hai Bangalore and Lankesh Patrike for transgressing the norms of journalistic conduct enunciated by it by directing the papers to strictly adhere to the norms while reporting cases of child abuse. The Council, while adjudicating upon the complaint of Shri Mathew Philip, Executive Director, Sichrem, Bangalore, against the said papers, reiterated its norms in the matter. The Council observed that while exposing social evils with regard to sexual assault on children or otherwise, the norms that say that the names, photographs of the victims or other particulars leading to their identity under no circumstances should be lost sight of by a newspaper.
-R.K. Lahiri, New Delhi
