Letters to the editor: Readers’ views on Bihar political shift, privacy debate and more

Gutted bandhan

Nitish Kumar was unfit to lead the grand alliance from day one as he is a man of character and has zero tolerance for corruption (“With Bihar in their pocket, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have conquered the Hindi heartland”). I do not know why he deserted the NDA in 2013 – perhaps he miscalculated the party’s chances of winning the 2014 polls and did not think that Modi could lead the BJP to power. However, Modi proved to be a game-changer for the party.

In 2015, during the Bihar elections, after having alienated the NDA, Kumar had no choice but to form a grand alliance with the Congress and the RJD even though he knew of corruption allegations.But Kumar got a god-given opportunity to leave the grand alliance that was making it difficult for him to run the government as per his vision. – JC Tewari

***

BJP is a natural ally for the JD(U). RJD was at best a cloak-and-dagger partner! – GMK Sarma

Patriotic fever

This is an excellent judgement. Kudos (“The Daily Fix: By forcing ‘Vande Mataram’ on students, Madras High Court has overstepped its brief”). – Balasubramanian

Saffron country

Almost every statement in TM Krishna’s tirade can be contested (“The TM Krishna column: Why the Hindu majority must push back against the BJP’s politics of hate”). He comes across as paranoid. If and when he puts the blinkers aside, he will realise that not all is perfect with other religions. Also, the BJP is working hard to woo Dalits, so it’s not right to say that the party has excluded them. Some stray incidents of violence against Muslims have raised a question mark but law is being enforced. It is liberals like TM Krishna who think otherwise and instigate moderate minorities. – R Narasimhan

Privacy with riders

Right to privacy is not specified in the Indian constitution (“Privacy cannot be treated as a fundamental right, Centre tells Supreme Court”). For a citizen, privacy is a primary concern, but the right to privacy cannot be unhindered, absolute and beyond scrutiny. Every government has the right (albeit limited) to seek some information on their citizens. If right to privacy is given status of a fundamental right, what will happen? Even the media will not be able to collect important information. If the government does not have the power to know the credentials of its citizens because of privacy, it would be detrimental to national security. Thus, it is justified for the government to collect a centralised database of its citizens through Aadhaar. Given the corruption levels in the country, it has become a necessity to implement Aadhaar and to link it with all monetary transactions. – Ram Deshpande

Sino-India ties

This is a brilliant and much-needed analysis of China’s claims to supremacy (“Why India must push back against China’s claims of being Asia’s natural leader”). I hope those who have the ear of our current leaders will use it to shape our country’s policy. – Samuel Vinay

Islamic banking

The concept of Sharia-compliant interest-free banking is not sustainable (“With first Sharia-compliant co-op bank in Kerala, has Islamic banking moved ahead in India?”). Someone has to bear the operating costs, and capital costs. Oil-rich Islamic countries managed to do that so far but will run into trouble now, with crude prices falling. Islamic banking is unlikely to do well in India as it is not a viable alternative to our existing banking set up. – DS Rao

Halal sex guide

I thank the author for helping women in such a gracious and righteous way (“From quickies to role play: A new manual teaches Muslim women how to have fulfilling halal sex”). I find the book is very helpful for women, especially those who do not want to discuss sex in the open. – Z Ken

Poor delivery

Charts and graphs do not make a comprehensive write-up (“Data check: Ashwin has had a great run but can he catch up to Murali or Warne?”). This is a bad piece of writing. How come can one compare R Ashwin, a bowler who excels only in substandard subcontinent pitches, to the great Shane Warne?

Ashwin is an overrated bowler who thrives a the technical deficiency of modern-day batsmen against play spin.
We don’t expect of these kind of eulogies from Scroll.in – Abi T Abraham