Readers' Forum

R

Mendacious missionaries: A couple of days back, the Pope declared a certain place in Kerala a holy place. I do not understand how can one country declare a part of another sovereign state something without getting any permission to do so? The proper and legal way would have been to take up the matter with the Indian Government and then get it declared a holy shrine. Quoted reasons for the declaration is yet another point of dispute. One of the twelve disciples of Christ, namely Saint Thomas, is alleged to have visited this place in 52 AD. So far there have been no archeological or other scientific evidence to prove the same, but the organised church has almost succeeded in establishing it as a truth by repeatedly making the claim. This is not the first time that the organised church has crossed the limit in recent times. The formation of INFAM and an education institution taking up the distribution rights for a movie, Passion of Christ, are cases in point. The farmers? movement INFAM is headed by a Christian clergyman and most of the other office-bearers are also part of the clergy. It is essentially a church outfit to protect the rights of (Christian) farmers, who migrated to Wayanad district of Kerala (thereby displacing the tribals). What'smore, the Antony government has gone out of the way by giving subsidy worth Rs.50 lakh to INFAM for some of its marketing efforts. In a secular country like India, is it ethical that the religious functionaries run non-religious outfits? The case of a Christian educational institution taking up the rights of distributing the film is yet another example of church in India crossing the secular limits. I wonder whether they have the legal rights to indulge in a trade other than imparting education. It is true that Christian missionaries were instrumental in popularising education in its present form in India, especially English education during the British regime. It is also true that they run some of the best educational institutions available in the country today. But it is equally true that a large section of them is solely responsible for communalisation of education and health sectors in the country. ?J.A. KUMAR, Kerala

?Hand-picked? cabinet: It is indeed shocking to note that the persons charged with serious offences like murder, moral turpitude, cheating, fraud, having disproportionate assets and such other cases have been sworn in as ministers, whereas a common man cannot get even an ordinary government job if his/her antecedents are found objectionable by police. If criminals are retained in the government, the need of police verification in respect of the candidates willing to join government as ordinary servants should be obviated. How do the mandarins justify saluting a criminal in power? If the renowned criminals remain in the cabinet, the Prime Minister must ask his HRD Minister to introduce the courses of different kinds of crimes, which must be taught in schools to produce even better models in crime. If success comes readily through crime and criminals get patronage of the government, why not teach crime in a methodical manner??DR. BALRAM MISRA, Delhi

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The unexpected style of constituting the new Union cabinet has belied hopes of political maturity of Congress leadership. Although the party leadership successfully resisted the undue pressure from RJD for Union Home Ministry, it included charge-sheeted persons in the cabinet. What is more, with too many experienced persons available for the cabinet, it was highly improper to induct the defeated politicians in the cabinet especially when many of the states are not or inadequately represented. ?SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL, Delhi

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The defeat of the BJP in the general elections is a political defeat. It is not a defeat of the movement for advancing Hindutva or Bharatiyata or Indianness. The cultural, civilisational oneness of Bharat is beyond and above politics, religion, caste or region. Bharat is not just a territorial entity. It is an ancient civilisation with many sub-cultures united by a commonality of beliefs, ideals and values. Elections may come and go, but Bharat will shine brightly for ever.?C.B.D. RAO, Bangalore

A great fallacy: It is a great folly to say that Sonia Gandhi has made a ?Himalayan sacrifice? by refusing to accept the most coveted post of the Prime Minister. It was in her own self-interest to do so, as she instinctively knew very well that she was woefully small to lift that Shiv dhanusha of intricate coalition politics of uncertainty. As the boot was too big for her small feet, she suggested Dr. Manmohan Singh for that post and preferred to continue in the ?driver'sseat? as Congress supremo.?V.V. PATHAK, Vadodara

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The dramatic and humble declining of premiership by Sonia Gandhi appears not to be an unwise decision. The Congressmen, however, has reluctantly swallowed a bitter pill but had been indecisive to substitute Sonia. This indecisiveness took its toll on the economy?the stock market plunged unprecedentedly low. The Congress believed in the ?divine? rights of the Nehru-Gandhi family and failed to groom other leaders. Its identity without the dynastic label is like a fish out of water.?B.K. CHAUDHARY, UK

Challenges before the govt: The greatest strength of the new government is the competence, impeccable integrity and robust common sense of Dr. Manmohan Singh. Its greatest weakness is its second power centre at 10 Janpath, politicisation of casteism and new respectability given to communalism in the name of secularism. This is reflected in the composition of the new cabinet. Inclusion of ministers with criminal background and a Muslim Leaguer have put a question mark on the claims about upholding of secularism and providing a clean government. As regards policies, even more important than taking the benefits of liberalisation and economic reforms to the villages is the question of national security, which hinges upon Pakistan. Its patronage of Islamic terrorism has spread to all corners of our country. To tackle the problem of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Manmohan Singh will have to develop greater understanding of and insight into Kashmir problem in order to make the forthcoming Indo-Pak talks a success. Then there is the question of regional disparities?the problem of water management, the problem of population explosion and massive infiltration of Bangladeshis, who are not only snatching work from the poor Indian but are adding a new dimension to the problem of internal and external security of the country. Dr. Singh will have to formulate a national policy in regard to these issues firmly. In this onerous task, he will get the cooperation of all nationalist Indians irrespective of their party affiliations.?BALRAJ MADHOK, Delhi

The right route: In the recent elections, most independents have lost their security deposits and have faired so poor that in some cases the so-called intellectuals and experts in public speaking and motivation could not secure even positive vote of 6,000 persons. This has highlighted one fact that in the present day democracy, an aspiring candidate should align himself with some political party, and work well for several years in his constituency to be able to secure at least a respectable number of votes and make a mark and not a mockery of the election for himself.?R.N. LAKHOTIA, New Delhi

Futile exercise: Ever since the Ramjanmabhoomi dispute arose, tones and tones of articles have been written, seminars arranged, official notes exchanged between GoI and the Babri Masjid Action Committee and excavations started on the court'sdirections. In this context the work done by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is commendable, which brought indisputable facts to light. But there is a thorn in the flesh. Irfan Habib, a scholar with Marxist leaning, carried a malicious campaign against ASI and opined that a ?mosque? of the Sultanate period existed at the Ramjanmabhoomi. However, Dr. S.P. Gupta condemned them all tooth and nail, point by point, all the critical observations made by Irfan Habib (Organiser, May 9 and 16, 2004). Any amount of mythological, historical and archaeological evidence produced is not admitted by the Babri Masjid Action Committee and shows adamancy in its approach to solve the problem amicably. We are only blowing a conch into the ears of stony deaf persons and giving a picturesque description of the magnificent temple, existed in times of yore, through archaeological exhibits, dug out from the Ramjanmabhoomi, before a blind person, which of course is a futile exercise to convince them. The Babri Masjid Action committee neither convinces us nor is convinced by the exhibits and arguments.?Dr. L.S. Madhava Rao, Hyderabad

Nice work!: I congratulate the team of Organiser for the nice outlook it has given to the weekly. I enjoy the paper very much and is inspired by the new columns. I would also like to contribute for the same.?Daya G., Kanyakumari
You are welcome?Ed.

Hindus at the receiving end: Stephen Knapp'sarticle Politicians the bane of Hindus (Organiser, 23-5-2004) deals with the most important issue facing Hindus in their own country. At present, they are under attack not only from both the proselytising religions?Islam and Christianity?but also from its own people?the pseudo-secular brigade. While the former have been doing so since the last 800 years, attack by the ?secular? brigade is the post-Independence phenomenon. It may not be wrong to say that now pseudo-secularism poses more serious threat to Hindus.?Dr. Vidya Sagar, Delhi

Right the wrong: The framers of our Constitution did not debar a foreign-born person from assuming the higher offices in the country. The Supreme Court, in the interests of the country, should declare that a foreign-born person cannot hold the higher constitutional posts.?M.M. Gupta, New Delhi