US academics' Modi gripe
For a long time, Indians have seen core values and rationalisation overtaken and overruled by the western-educated elites and politicians ("Full text: Leading US academics urge Silicon Valley to be cautious in dealing with Modi government"). Starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, the western way of reasoning and decision-making has been used to judge and decide what is and what should be happening in India.
I am surprised and shocked to read the claims against Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative by the folks apparently concerned and worried for India but are actually living thousands of miles away.
Why is it that those people born in India or born to Indian parents always in a rush to question the leaders of their native land while on foreign soil? What is their relevance and right to ask or publish such articles when they no longer reside in the country they claim to be worried about? Why do they feel they represent the population and why use Western life to bash Eastern roots?
I have lived in the US for quite some time and honestly feel that India is a true democracy even with its failures and limitations. If western-minded Nehru and his party forcefully defined the narrative of India for more than 60 years, in which all major institutes became associated with Nehru, Indira, Sanjay and/or Rajiv, I see no reason for the new government to try to establish the balance in the direction and in line with the majority.
While the minority needs to be protected, their rights and desires must not trump those of the majority. Like any country, India has its strengths and weaknesses. Do not demean a nation or its rightful and democratically-elected leader on foreign soil just because you can. – Deepak Patel
***
India needs to learn "The Virtue of Selfishness". India has its own issues to take care of such as population growth, unemployment and poverty, for which we need to have our own strategy.
And for this we need our own academic methods. I don't support any party, but believe that we need to develop our own methods to grow. – Unnithan
***
Indian academics in the United States had no problem when the Congress started Aadhaar, but they have huge ethical problems with some Californian firms investing in digital initiatives in India. They need to have some more tact when they take on a canny politician like Narendra Modi. Poor judgement. – Bharat K Punjabi
***
As an academic, I am appalled by the statements made by some faculty engaged in researching South Asia.
The reason for such an organised effort to influence Silicon Valley ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit is at best unclear. It goes beyond academia and into the political realm.
Where was the academic endeavour during the California textbook controversy or the court decision on Wendy Doniger's controversial book? Have they paid attention to Rajiv Malhotra's books that counters the viewpoint – not based on objectivity or logic – of such academics?
I would have applauded these academics had they contributed to scholarship, innovation and new ideas that would benefit humankind. Sheer hypocrisy concerning the Modi visit is no scholarship.
A new India has emerged on its original civilisational platform, grounded in universal values with its own heritage of intellectual order. There is little scope for such hypocritical practices in the 21st century. It would be appropriate to engage in scholarship rather than hide under the shroud of 'academic freedom', as this logic applies equally to other academics with an opposing point of view or evidence-based scholarship. – Azad Kaushik
Aurangzeb's legacy
A despot has to be benevolent and magnanimous ("Was Aurangzeb the most evil ruler India has ever had?"). Aurangzeb was not an enlightened despot like Shah Jahan. He was a bigot who destroyed the sensitive moral fibre of the subcontinent by creating an unbridgeable gap. He didn't leave anything of substance to posterity but hate.
Glorifying a cold-blooded killer like him is disservice to any effort of reconciliation. Stop rewriting history with a new bent. We need to introduce Dara Shikoh's brand of multiculturalism into our history syllabus instead of cramming orthodoxy and monologue of Aurangzeb into the minds of our school children.
It is ironic that we rarely remember the blood and tears of those who built great monuments such as the Taj Mahal. The Mughals were not big-hearted. They helped concentrate wealth in a few hands and created a poor-rich caste system divide. – Iqbal Latif
***
Thank you for this revelatory piece. If a change is necessary in this era of politically motivated historical revisionism, why not rename the road after Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb's liberal and tolerant older brother? Aurangzeb had arraigned and execued him on charges of apostasy. That would send a strong message to fundamentalists of every hue. – Ghazala Akbar
***
The article was worth reading ("Renaming Aurangzeb Road is a terrible memorial to APJ Kalam"). However, the fact that it was written as a reaction to some government action is creates margin for a lot of doubt. History cannot be rewritten, but such informative pieces should be written constantly without any motive.
I feel that the renaming of established roads, cities and monuments should not be encouraged. There is a whole lot of history behind it and we should not be shortsighted. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a great scientist. It would be more befitting to name a scientific institution or university after him. – Tarrakad Venkatraman Ramakrishna
***
Aurangzeb killed spiritual leaders such as Guru Tegh Bahadur and free thinkers like Sarmad. The verbal history of people living thousands of kilometres apart such as the Marathas, Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs, Jats and so many other groups have a common thread of killing and forcible conversion by Aurangzeb. None of the other Mughals are accused of killing on an industrial scale.
Even Hindutva extremists do not accuse Akbar of mass killing even while speaking ill of him for attacking the kingdoms of Maharana Pratap.
So why is this special anger reserved for Aurangzeb? We cannot blame British historians because they were only collating what they heard. Left historians need to realise that when they whitewash the atrocities of the "worst" king, they severely damage their own credibility.
He built temples and employed Hindus because he could not take on all the Hindus across India at the same time. He played divide and rule by slaughter in one place and building temples and employing Hindus in another place. Aurangzeb is responsible for more persecution, conversion, killing of innocents than all his Mughal predecessors. – Irvinder Singh
***
A very well done piece. But the problem is elsewhere. We are often told that the past shapes the present. In fact, it is the other way round. It is the present which shapes our view of the past and is always selective. It is also shaped by how much destructive power political goons can command to silence an opposing view. – Harbans
***
Renaming Aurangzeb Road is not a Muslim vs Hindu debate – it's Indians vs foreign invaders. India was not ruled by Indian Muslims, but by Persians, Turks or Central Asians. Hindus were enslaved by foreigners, who were cruel and aggressive.
Those who converted to Islam got a better deal from these cruel rulers of India. Akbar was not a saint, but was probably better than the other Mughal rulers. – Satish Ankalikar
***
Here's a ruler who demolished three of Hinduism's holiest sites – the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the Kesava Deo temple and Somnath temple – and built huge mosques in their place.
He executed Guru Teg Bahadur who objected to his forced conversions. Just as the fundamentalists are doing in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan at present, he persecuted Sufis such as mystic Sarmad Kashani for multiple heresies. These are historical facts and not some Hindutva propaganda.
Asking that his name be removed from a Delhi road is not about selective memory but about the enduring wounds caused in the national psyche by his actions. Misdirecting the issue towards Akbar is deceptive. We are not talking about Akbar. We are talking about someone who was intensely bigoted. In today's India, there can be no defending him.
I am surprised at the tone of the article. It is as if someone was objecting to the change in name of a road named "Hitler Road" in Poland or "Pol Pot road" in Cambodia.
Reading the author's article, I now wait for him to justify the blasting of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban and the destruction of Palmyra and other ancient sites by ISIS. After all, they share their ethos with Aurangzeb too. – Kishore Asthana
***
Is it so important to change the names of roads in Delhi? What is urgently needed is good governance, removing corruption from day-to-day life and providing good medical facilities, apart from jobs for youth and a law abiding and disciplined society.
Ever since governance went into the hands of Swayam Sevaks, I sometimes wonder whether we are moving forward or backward. – Rongala Chella Rao
Caste conundrum
Ghanshyam Shah has effectively acknowledged at various stages that backward classes will not be able to complete with upper castes on a level playing field ("What explains the Gujarat deaths and violence: the underlying tensions between OBCs and Patidars").
What we are witnessing is more violent aggression against the very notion that all humans are created equal and just vary in capacities.
Socially, the caste system needs to be curtailed and delineated from state and government functioning. Caste-based policies will only further divisions and result in armed conflicts in the decades to come.
You cannot win over people by force. Only education and unity can bring about reconciliation among the population. It is time that the likes of Ghanshyam Shah wake up the threat of dividing the nation on caste lines. – ahuloze on email
***
Hardik Patel may not win the war he has started but the battlefield he has opened will not disappear. It appears that he is basically questioning the caste-based quota system.
Except for a few very backward communities, there are a number of castes included in the quota system purely owing to their political relevance . A number of brilliant people who are in the so-called forward castes but are economically poor get affected by the politically-biased reservation system.
Even the constitution has ensured reservation only for a limited period for a few genuinely backward castes. They rightfully need continuous support. – Ravindranathan
Questionable motives
How can Hardik Patel be right ("Hardik Patel is right: The truth about Patidars can be found in Gujarat’s villages, not US motels")? By inciting people to riot and threatening the Modi government? Is he also going to demand that he be given the rights to clean the streets and public toilets?
Most of the Patidar children go to private schools and have private tutoring too. How can the so-called lower class kids complete with this?
See what Hardik Patel's thugs have done in Gujarat. They have burnt police stations and buses and forced hardworking store owners to close shops to advance Patel's movements.
Many store owners do not belong to the Patidar community. I am from a Patel family and I have seen what the lower class and untouchables have to do just to earn a living. They have remove the dead animals from the streets, sweep the streets, clean the public toilets. This is the same as what is happening in Dalit families in Bihar.
Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi wanted to uplift these so-called poor people. Do you think Hardik Patel is going to the slums of Mumbai or Ahmedabad and demand that he should be given the right to stay there for one day? Although he was addressing the Patidar samaj, he was speaking in Hindi. He spoke for only a few minutes about the Patidars while the rest of time was devoted to bad-mouthing the Prime Minister. – Kanu Patel
***
Hardik Patel is creating a wrong impression. In every village of our nation, the situation for any native irrespective of his caste and class is almost same. But the Patels are better off in terms of wealth and luxury.
The media needs be neutral while reporting on Hardik Patel and should not take his comments at face value. – Dipak Panchal
Unconstructive criticism
The above article is informative ("Rajasthan plans 9,842 'model schools' but only 80 of those are girls' schools"). However, the criticism is misplaced and biased with total disregard for the efforts by various experts and officials in coming to the decision.
If the writer is such an expert, he should participate in the decision-making process and avoid such articles that discredit people who do their work.
The writer's knowledge about the decision-making process is is limited and so he makes a connection to the gender of the chief minister involved. The requirements of school children should be decided based on their needs and after conducting studies and surveys.
Let us be proactive and make constructive use of our talents. I don't see the point of such articles. – Kamalaakar Save
Respect the purists
I agree with the points made regarding the bleak future of the I-League ("With the advent of the rival Indian Super League, football's premier I-League faces a bleak future"). Ever since the concept of the ISL was introduced, the prospect of commercialising the sport in India and developing football at the grassroots level was always going to promote the beautiful game in our country and mobilise the fans of various European clubs.
Though the ISL has brought football into the limelight in India, one must not forget the numerous local purists who still religiously support their I-League teams.
The demise of the I-League would also result in the loss of jobs for players and other people who depend on this age-old league for their livelihood. Most of them come from poor economic backgrounds and will be left with no secure means of earning their daily bread. Should the All India Football Federation decide to dissolve the league or merge it with the ISL, they must ensure that these people are not forgotten. – Reuben Joe Joseph
Failed strategy
Narendra Modi's problem is that he is surrounded by stuborn advisors ("Land Bill U-turn: Narendra Modi tried to please industry instead of farmers and now nobody's happy"). The BJP's overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha has led the government to believe that they can rush through legislation and disregard alternative views.
The land reform bill could have been passed had Modi taken the opposition parties into confidence and given them the respect they deserve in a democracy. – Ravindranathan
Blow to democracy
The killing of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi is saddening and taints India's democratic nature ("Kalburgi’s scholarship got him into trouble with Lingayats, and with Hindutva forces too"). Neither is it a shock nor is it unprecedented for rationalists to be murdered in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
The masses may not come out on the streets after hearing such news as the deceased was a rationalist challenging ingrained religious beliefs. It remains to be seen if we are slipping into an informal totalitarianistic "democracy".
According to an urban legend, if you put a frog in boiling water it will jump off, but if it is kept in cold water and then heated slowly, it won't jump and will eventually die. If Narendra Dabholkar's and Kalburgi's legacy is carried out with vibrant show of support, then those wanting to suppress dissent will have no option but to watch the show. – Devansh Shrivastava
News sense
I remember someone saying that whenever the media is trumpeting some breaking news, look for the breaking news they are trying to hide ("Why is the Sheena Bora case getting more headlines than the Gujarat violence?"). Today, this quote makes sense.
Does the common man really want to know about the mess that is the Sheena Bora case? I highly doubt it. The protests in Gujarat truly have an impact on the general public. The reservation chapter is helping many and haunting the rest. – Syed Nadeem Ahmad
The Jungle Raj
I would like to draw your attention to how this explanation is one-sided ("Reality check: Why it is too convenient to label Lalu Prasad's reign as 'jungle raj'"). While I agree that Bihar was very peaceful on the communal front during the RJD's 15-year rule, I can say without doubt the reason was that Muslims were a vote bank of the party.
More than 1,000 people died in caste violence in southern Bihar in the late 90s. The violence continued unabated till 2005 and Lalu Prasad did nothing to stop it.
When the central government first proposed the creation of a Jharkhand state, "over my dead body" was Lalu's response. But vote bank calculations eventually prevailed, giving the RJD greater control over divided Bihar.
India opened up its economy in the 1990s and the services sector reaped the maximum benefits. However, the misrule of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during this period has set the two states back by more than a decade.
Despite the period of high growth during Nitish Kumar's tensure, Bihar still lags behind and is dependent on central assistance. This is why the period from 1990-2005 was truly "jungle raj" in Bihar. – Rishi Raj
***
An audaciously constructed story based on an undeniable account of events. It establishes the true nature of power. It hits the bullseye and shows how voters matter to political parties and the latter's apathy to the point of no concern for those who sail in a different boat. – Ajay Jain
Shailendra's lyrics
The article highly appreciated for the choice of subject, the genuine tribute to the lyricist and for having succeeded at it ("Tribute: Shailendra was the proverbial moth who got burned too quickly"). It helped me identify the face of the person whose work always resonated within.
I thank the author for writing on a subject close to the heart and evoking the legacy of the lyricist. – Vibhav Misra
Movement in Manipur
It is unfortunate that some tribal researchers based in Delhi are writing negatively about the Inner Line Permit and the Schedule Tribes Demand Committee ("The Inner Line Permit system will cause more trouble in Manipur, not less"). Meiteis have always been a tribe. A fact is a fact.
Half of the Kukis settled in Manipur hail from Myanmar. We are one, we can settle anywhere. – JC Sharma
Political chess
No one should be surprised ("Did BJP have a hand in Mulayam Singh’s exit from the grand alliance in Bihar?"). Mulayam has always been close to BJP leaders. He sided with the BJP on the nuclear deal as well as the appointment of APJ Abdul Kalam as President. He inducted Kalyan Singh and Sakshi Maharaj into his party. He subscribes to the dictum that there are no permanent friends or foes, just permanent interests. – KZ Amani
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
For a long time, Indians have seen core values and rationalisation overtaken and overruled by the western-educated elites and politicians ("Full text: Leading US academics urge Silicon Valley to be cautious in dealing with Modi government"). Starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, the western way of reasoning and decision-making has been used to judge and decide what is and what should be happening in India.
I am surprised and shocked to read the claims against Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative by the folks apparently concerned and worried for India but are actually living thousands of miles away.
Why is it that those people born in India or born to Indian parents always in a rush to question the leaders of their native land while on foreign soil? What is their relevance and right to ask or publish such articles when they no longer reside in the country they claim to be worried about? Why do they feel they represent the population and why use Western life to bash Eastern roots?
I have lived in the US for quite some time and honestly feel that India is a true democracy even with its failures and limitations. If western-minded Nehru and his party forcefully defined the narrative of India for more than 60 years, in which all major institutes became associated with Nehru, Indira, Sanjay and/or Rajiv, I see no reason for the new government to try to establish the balance in the direction and in line with the majority.
While the minority needs to be protected, their rights and desires must not trump those of the majority. Like any country, India has its strengths and weaknesses. Do not demean a nation or its rightful and democratically-elected leader on foreign soil just because you can. – Deepak Patel
***
India needs to learn "The Virtue of Selfishness". India has its own issues to take care of such as population growth, unemployment and poverty, for which we need to have our own strategy.
And for this we need our own academic methods. I don't support any party, but believe that we need to develop our own methods to grow. – Unnithan
***
Indian academics in the United States had no problem when the Congress started Aadhaar, but they have huge ethical problems with some Californian firms investing in digital initiatives in India. They need to have some more tact when they take on a canny politician like Narendra Modi. Poor judgement. – Bharat K Punjabi
***
As an academic, I am appalled by the statements made by some faculty engaged in researching South Asia.
The reason for such an organised effort to influence Silicon Valley ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit is at best unclear. It goes beyond academia and into the political realm.
Where was the academic endeavour during the California textbook controversy or the court decision on Wendy Doniger's controversial book? Have they paid attention to Rajiv Malhotra's books that counters the viewpoint – not based on objectivity or logic – of such academics?
I would have applauded these academics had they contributed to scholarship, innovation and new ideas that would benefit humankind. Sheer hypocrisy concerning the Modi visit is no scholarship.
A new India has emerged on its original civilisational platform, grounded in universal values with its own heritage of intellectual order. There is little scope for such hypocritical practices in the 21st century. It would be appropriate to engage in scholarship rather than hide under the shroud of 'academic freedom', as this logic applies equally to other academics with an opposing point of view or evidence-based scholarship. – Azad Kaushik
Aurangzeb's legacy
A despot has to be benevolent and magnanimous ("Was Aurangzeb the most evil ruler India has ever had?"). Aurangzeb was not an enlightened despot like Shah Jahan. He was a bigot who destroyed the sensitive moral fibre of the subcontinent by creating an unbridgeable gap. He didn't leave anything of substance to posterity but hate.
Glorifying a cold-blooded killer like him is disservice to any effort of reconciliation. Stop rewriting history with a new bent. We need to introduce Dara Shikoh's brand of multiculturalism into our history syllabus instead of cramming orthodoxy and monologue of Aurangzeb into the minds of our school children.
It is ironic that we rarely remember the blood and tears of those who built great monuments such as the Taj Mahal. The Mughals were not big-hearted. They helped concentrate wealth in a few hands and created a poor-rich caste system divide. – Iqbal Latif
***
Thank you for this revelatory piece. If a change is necessary in this era of politically motivated historical revisionism, why not rename the road after Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb's liberal and tolerant older brother? Aurangzeb had arraigned and execued him on charges of apostasy. That would send a strong message to fundamentalists of every hue. – Ghazala Akbar
***
The article was worth reading ("Renaming Aurangzeb Road is a terrible memorial to APJ Kalam"). However, the fact that it was written as a reaction to some government action is creates margin for a lot of doubt. History cannot be rewritten, but such informative pieces should be written constantly without any motive.
I feel that the renaming of established roads, cities and monuments should not be encouraged. There is a whole lot of history behind it and we should not be shortsighted. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a great scientist. It would be more befitting to name a scientific institution or university after him. – Tarrakad Venkatraman Ramakrishna
***
Aurangzeb killed spiritual leaders such as Guru Tegh Bahadur and free thinkers like Sarmad. The verbal history of people living thousands of kilometres apart such as the Marathas, Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs, Jats and so many other groups have a common thread of killing and forcible conversion by Aurangzeb. None of the other Mughals are accused of killing on an industrial scale.
Even Hindutva extremists do not accuse Akbar of mass killing even while speaking ill of him for attacking the kingdoms of Maharana Pratap.
So why is this special anger reserved for Aurangzeb? We cannot blame British historians because they were only collating what they heard. Left historians need to realise that when they whitewash the atrocities of the "worst" king, they severely damage their own credibility.
He built temples and employed Hindus because he could not take on all the Hindus across India at the same time. He played divide and rule by slaughter in one place and building temples and employing Hindus in another place. Aurangzeb is responsible for more persecution, conversion, killing of innocents than all his Mughal predecessors. – Irvinder Singh
***
A very well done piece. But the problem is elsewhere. We are often told that the past shapes the present. In fact, it is the other way round. It is the present which shapes our view of the past and is always selective. It is also shaped by how much destructive power political goons can command to silence an opposing view. – Harbans
***
Aurangzeb was probably not the most evil ruler India ever had. This article was probably a big punch to those who believe that India was a nation since time immemorial. This false notion has to be corrected time and again.
Saffronising everything has become a propaganda. Hardcore Hindus are oblivious of their history and its Indo-European background. Identity politics fuelling their false idea of 'Hinduhood' is more problematic. The killing of MM Kalburgi is an example of its fatal consequences.
The report was vey effective, investigative yet comprehensive and overall a good read. – Gunjan
***
Renaming Aurangzeb Road is not a Muslim vs Hindu debate – it's Indians vs foreign invaders. India was not ruled by Indian Muslims, but by Persians, Turks or Central Asians. Hindus were enslaved by foreigners, who were cruel and aggressive.
Those who converted to Islam got a better deal from these cruel rulers of India. Akbar was not a saint, but was probably better than the other Mughal rulers. – Satish Ankalikar
***
Here's a ruler who demolished three of Hinduism's holiest sites – the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the Kesava Deo temple and Somnath temple – and built huge mosques in their place.
He executed Guru Teg Bahadur who objected to his forced conversions. Just as the fundamentalists are doing in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan at present, he persecuted Sufis such as mystic Sarmad Kashani for multiple heresies. These are historical facts and not some Hindutva propaganda.
Asking that his name be removed from a Delhi road is not about selective memory but about the enduring wounds caused in the national psyche by his actions. Misdirecting the issue towards Akbar is deceptive. We are not talking about Akbar. We are talking about someone who was intensely bigoted. In today's India, there can be no defending him.
I am surprised at the tone of the article. It is as if someone was objecting to the change in name of a road named "Hitler Road" in Poland or "Pol Pot road" in Cambodia.
Reading the author's article, I now wait for him to justify the blasting of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban and the destruction of Palmyra and other ancient sites by ISIS. After all, they share their ethos with Aurangzeb too. – Kishore Asthana
***
Is it so important to change the names of roads in Delhi? What is urgently needed is good governance, removing corruption from day-to-day life and providing good medical facilities, apart from jobs for youth and a law abiding and disciplined society.
Ever since governance went into the hands of Swayam Sevaks, I sometimes wonder whether we are moving forward or backward. – Rongala Chella Rao
Caste conundrum
Ghanshyam Shah has effectively acknowledged at various stages that backward classes will not be able to complete with upper castes on a level playing field ("What explains the Gujarat deaths and violence: the underlying tensions between OBCs and Patidars").
What we are witnessing is more violent aggression against the very notion that all humans are created equal and just vary in capacities.
Socially, the caste system needs to be curtailed and delineated from state and government functioning. Caste-based policies will only further divisions and result in armed conflicts in the decades to come.
You cannot win over people by force. Only education and unity can bring about reconciliation among the population. It is time that the likes of Ghanshyam Shah wake up the threat of dividing the nation on caste lines. – ahuloze on email
***
Hardik Patel may not win the war he has started but the battlefield he has opened will not disappear. It appears that he is basically questioning the caste-based quota system.
Except for a few very backward communities, there are a number of castes included in the quota system purely owing to their political relevance . A number of brilliant people who are in the so-called forward castes but are economically poor get affected by the politically-biased reservation system.
Even the constitution has ensured reservation only for a limited period for a few genuinely backward castes. They rightfully need continuous support. – Ravindranathan
Questionable motives
How can Hardik Patel be right ("Hardik Patel is right: The truth about Patidars can be found in Gujarat’s villages, not US motels")? By inciting people to riot and threatening the Modi government? Is he also going to demand that he be given the rights to clean the streets and public toilets?
Most of the Patidar children go to private schools and have private tutoring too. How can the so-called lower class kids complete with this?
See what Hardik Patel's thugs have done in Gujarat. They have burnt police stations and buses and forced hardworking store owners to close shops to advance Patel's movements.
Many store owners do not belong to the Patidar community. I am from a Patel family and I have seen what the lower class and untouchables have to do just to earn a living. They have remove the dead animals from the streets, sweep the streets, clean the public toilets. This is the same as what is happening in Dalit families in Bihar.
Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi wanted to uplift these so-called poor people. Do you think Hardik Patel is going to the slums of Mumbai or Ahmedabad and demand that he should be given the right to stay there for one day? Although he was addressing the Patidar samaj, he was speaking in Hindi. He spoke for only a few minutes about the Patidars while the rest of time was devoted to bad-mouthing the Prime Minister. – Kanu Patel
***
Hardik Patel is creating a wrong impression. In every village of our nation, the situation for any native irrespective of his caste and class is almost same. But the Patels are better off in terms of wealth and luxury.
The media needs be neutral while reporting on Hardik Patel and should not take his comments at face value. – Dipak Panchal
Unconstructive criticism
The above article is informative ("Rajasthan plans 9,842 'model schools' but only 80 of those are girls' schools"). However, the criticism is misplaced and biased with total disregard for the efforts by various experts and officials in coming to the decision.
If the writer is such an expert, he should participate in the decision-making process and avoid such articles that discredit people who do their work.
The writer's knowledge about the decision-making process is is limited and so he makes a connection to the gender of the chief minister involved. The requirements of school children should be decided based on their needs and after conducting studies and surveys.
Let us be proactive and make constructive use of our talents. I don't see the point of such articles. – Kamalaakar Save
Respect the purists
I agree with the points made regarding the bleak future of the I-League ("With the advent of the rival Indian Super League, football's premier I-League faces a bleak future"). Ever since the concept of the ISL was introduced, the prospect of commercialising the sport in India and developing football at the grassroots level was always going to promote the beautiful game in our country and mobilise the fans of various European clubs.
Though the ISL has brought football into the limelight in India, one must not forget the numerous local purists who still religiously support their I-League teams.
The demise of the I-League would also result in the loss of jobs for players and other people who depend on this age-old league for their livelihood. Most of them come from poor economic backgrounds and will be left with no secure means of earning their daily bread. Should the All India Football Federation decide to dissolve the league or merge it with the ISL, they must ensure that these people are not forgotten. – Reuben Joe Joseph
Failed strategy
Narendra Modi's problem is that he is surrounded by stuborn advisors ("Land Bill U-turn: Narendra Modi tried to please industry instead of farmers and now nobody's happy"). The BJP's overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha has led the government to believe that they can rush through legislation and disregard alternative views.
The land reform bill could have been passed had Modi taken the opposition parties into confidence and given them the respect they deserve in a democracy. – Ravindranathan
Blow to democracy
The killing of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi is saddening and taints India's democratic nature ("Kalburgi’s scholarship got him into trouble with Lingayats, and with Hindutva forces too"). Neither is it a shock nor is it unprecedented for rationalists to be murdered in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
The masses may not come out on the streets after hearing such news as the deceased was a rationalist challenging ingrained religious beliefs. It remains to be seen if we are slipping into an informal totalitarianistic "democracy".
According to an urban legend, if you put a frog in boiling water it will jump off, but if it is kept in cold water and then heated slowly, it won't jump and will eventually die. If Narendra Dabholkar's and Kalburgi's legacy is carried out with vibrant show of support, then those wanting to suppress dissent will have no option but to watch the show. – Devansh Shrivastava
News sense
I remember someone saying that whenever the media is trumpeting some breaking news, look for the breaking news they are trying to hide ("Why is the Sheena Bora case getting more headlines than the Gujarat violence?"). Today, this quote makes sense.
Does the common man really want to know about the mess that is the Sheena Bora case? I highly doubt it. The protests in Gujarat truly have an impact on the general public. The reservation chapter is helping many and haunting the rest. – Syed Nadeem Ahmad
The Jungle Raj
I would like to draw your attention to how this explanation is one-sided ("Reality check: Why it is too convenient to label Lalu Prasad's reign as 'jungle raj'"). While I agree that Bihar was very peaceful on the communal front during the RJD's 15-year rule, I can say without doubt the reason was that Muslims were a vote bank of the party.
More than 1,000 people died in caste violence in southern Bihar in the late 90s. The violence continued unabated till 2005 and Lalu Prasad did nothing to stop it.
When the central government first proposed the creation of a Jharkhand state, "over my dead body" was Lalu's response. But vote bank calculations eventually prevailed, giving the RJD greater control over divided Bihar.
India opened up its economy in the 1990s and the services sector reaped the maximum benefits. However, the misrule of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during this period has set the two states back by more than a decade.
Despite the period of high growth during Nitish Kumar's tensure, Bihar still lags behind and is dependent on central assistance. This is why the period from 1990-2005 was truly "jungle raj" in Bihar. – Rishi Raj
***
An audaciously constructed story based on an undeniable account of events. It establishes the true nature of power. It hits the bullseye and shows how voters matter to political parties and the latter's apathy to the point of no concern for those who sail in a different boat. – Ajay Jain
Shailendra's lyrics
The article highly appreciated for the choice of subject, the genuine tribute to the lyricist and for having succeeded at it ("Tribute: Shailendra was the proverbial moth who got burned too quickly"). It helped me identify the face of the person whose work always resonated within.
I thank the author for writing on a subject close to the heart and evoking the legacy of the lyricist. – Vibhav Misra
Movement in Manipur
It is unfortunate that some tribal researchers based in Delhi are writing negatively about the Inner Line Permit and the Schedule Tribes Demand Committee ("The Inner Line Permit system will cause more trouble in Manipur, not less"). Meiteis have always been a tribe. A fact is a fact.
Half of the Kukis settled in Manipur hail from Myanmar. We are one, we can settle anywhere. – JC Sharma
Political chess
No one should be surprised ("Did BJP have a hand in Mulayam Singh’s exit from the grand alliance in Bihar?"). Mulayam has always been close to BJP leaders. He sided with the BJP on the nuclear deal as well as the appointment of APJ Abdul Kalam as President. He inducted Kalyan Singh and Sakshi Maharaj into his party. He subscribes to the dictum that there are no permanent friends or foes, just permanent interests. – KZ Amani
