Politics of friendship

Sir — The West’s main problem is its aspirations to superiority vis-à-vis the non-whites. Its colonial invasions were mostly against non-white nations; delusions of Western superiority were reinforced when the latter developed hybrid cultures after Nazi Germany crippled the British and French, bringing the curtain down on colonization as it was once known. Today we see a new form of colonization in Iraq and Afghanistan, displaying a familiar pattern of inability to see eye-to-eye with non-white nations. The leaders of these countries were once thick as thieves with their current tormentors. India should not rush to tread this path. Authentic long-term friendship with the West may be unrealistic and undesirable. India or Pakistan, or both, will be dumped unceremoniously as soon as they have outgrown any potential utility to the West. Wannabe friends of the West should remember that we are not white people of European descent, as Jews are. That is the foremost criterion.

Yours faithfully,
Ashoke Dasgupta, Winnipeg, Canada

A state in limbo

Sir — The editorial, “Wrong address” (Jan 29), waxed eloquent about the Bihar governor’s dereliction of constitutional duty. The Telegraph was by no means the only newspaper to haul the governor over coals. The common cavil is that it is inappropriate for the governor to criticize his own government. Whether Rama Jois erred in his decision or not can be debated at length. But the point is the double standards in the Indian media. I could not recall seeing an editorial suggesting that the former president, K.R. Narayanan, was wrong in his numerous diatribes against the government.

While The Telegraph is quite eclectic in its choice of columnists, having among the contributors both Swapan Dasgupta and Ashok Mitra, editorials like this one points towards a bias sneaking in.

Yours faithfully,
Srinivas Thiruvadanthai, New York

Sir — It was unfortunate that the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, locked horns with the state governor, Rama Jois over certain comments made by the latter in his Republic Day speech (“Governor raises parties’ hackles”, Jan 28). Ever since Laloo took over as the chief minister of Bihar, it has continued to lead the branded BIMARU states, with an alarming record of corruption, scams, murders, and kidnappings. The Patna high court had gone to the extent of saying that the state deserved to be put under president’s rule. The murders of Satyendra Dubey, an honest engineer, and of social activists, Sarita and Mahesh, and the latest kidnapping of the Bharatiya Janata Party national council member, Sikandar Rai, are pointers to the lawlessness of the state.

If the president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, can raise the issue of corruption in his speech on the eve of Republic Day, what can be wrong if the Bihar governor makes his opinions known about his state? Jois had enough reasons to bring up “the sense of insecurity gripping the people of Bihar” and to remind the state government of its responsibility and duty of maintaining law and order in the state. Jois, being a former judge, surely knows his legal and constitutional limits.

Instead of taking offence against Jois’s comments, Laloo Prasad Yadav and his party should wake up to the reality and take steps to improve Bihar’s image.

Yours faithfully,
Srinivasan Balakrishnan, Jamshedpur

Sir — The governor of Bihar has done a laudable thing by speaking the truth against the state’s government. Laloo Prasad Yadav, who runs the state from behind the curtains while his wife officially occupies the chief minister’s chair, prides himself on ensuring that the evil of communalism does not enter his state. But what about criminalization? As if to prove the governor right, the day after his speech, a senior leader and vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit was abducted. What right does Laloo Yadav have to refute the governor’s complaints?

Yours faithfully,
Bijoy Menon, New Delhi

Sir — The murder of Sarita and Mahesh Kant has laid bare the truth that in Bihar, might continues to be right (“Lives lost in trying to change lives”, Jan 26). First, it was Satyendra Dubey, who was murdered by anti-social elements who did not approve of his opposition to the rampant malpractices in the national highways project. Will anyone want to follow in Dubey’s footsteps knowing that the government, far from providing him security, is more likely to be hand-in-glove with the criminal and corrupt elements? The killers of Dubey are yet to be put behind bars. There is no doubt that justice will be as elusive in the case of the murder of Sarita and Mahesh.

Yours faithfully,
Sumant Poddar, Calcutta

Sir — The cold-blooded murder of two young social activists, Sarita and Mahesh, in Gaya has unsettled even a state like Bihar that witnesses murders and abductions almost daily. The duo had picked up courage to free the villagers from age-old feudal exploitation and taught them to resist the Naxalites. They had encouraged the villagers to take up cooperative farming, raised awareness about alcoholism and improved the water facilities in the village of Shabdo. It was largely because of their tireless efforts that Shabdo became a model village. It is the duty of the villagers for whom the two had sacrificed lives of urban comfort to exert pressure on the government so that the killers are brought to book.

Yours faithfully,
S. Ram, Calcutta

Sir — Had the governor of Bihar been an ordinary citizen, he would probably have been “put in his place” by now for finding faults with the way the administration runs in Bihar. Funnily, one does not have to visit the state to get the picture. Passing through Bihar in a train is enough. The office-bearers in most cases are dreaded criminals themselves or are patronized by them. Women are forced publicly to marry criminals. Neither the human rights activists, let alone the state administration, choose to do anything about it. And so the cycle continues.

Yours faithfully,
Udita Agrawal, New Delhi

Sir — While the political leaders of the country are busy making alliances before the elections, hardly anyone is willing to pay attention to the need to end the illicit butchering of innocent lives such as those of Sarita and Mahesh. Worst of all, such events do not seem to have any chastizing effect on the administration. It is only a matter of time before someone else falls victim to this unholy nexus.

Yours faithfully,
Udita Sen, Calcutta