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regarded as the supreme transcendent entity . Over the centuries the Veerashaivas became an endogamous community called Lingayats , distinguished by the Shivalinga and rudraksha on their person . Of course , Shiva is one of the principal deities of Hinduism . He is the supreme being within Shaivism , one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism . If Shiva is a Hindu deity then surely Lingayats too are Hindus .
DEHRADUN Rakesh Agarwal : Our leaders have inherited the mantra of ‘ divide and rule ’ from the British and are following it with zest ; the RSS and the BJP in particular have perfected it , and thus reaped a rich harvest . Now , the supposedly different Congress is following in their footsteps . Siddaramaiah ’ s decision to classify Lingayats as a religious minority is one step in this direction , as is Rahul Gandhi ’ s ‘ soft hindutva ’— a way for him to have his cake and eat it .
Inventive Evil
PUNE G . L . Karkal : With reference to Malice As News ( March 26 ). I do not have a computer or smartphone and I am totally ignorant of the consequences of having a Facebook or of such things being abused . But if I am not mistaken , this is not the first time that scientific inventions have been misused by people for the sake of power — remember how the Chinese invented black powder ( gunpowder ) and used it mostly for fireworks , before it was weaponised . So , perhaps the article should have been titled ‘ Malice in the name of scientific inventions .’
An Infected Inflection
MUMBAI Ghai : This refers to the column No Quarter for the Innocent ( April 2 ) by Talmiz Ahmad . The consequences for non-believers living in a Muslim country infected with Wahhabism are well known . The loss of 39 innocent lives is unfortunate , but the odds of their surviving were anyway very low . Sushma needlessly kept high hopes .
AMRITSAR Lal Singh : In the four years since the BJP came to power , it has led many successful operations to rescue Indian citizens from extremists . In the case of the 39 killed in the
Middle East , the external affairs minister made several statements in Parliament , claiming the hostages were alive . The intention might have been to avoid anguish to the victims ’ kin , but in the end it turned out to be counterproductive as they came to know of the deaths on TV . The minister should have just said that the hostages were missing and the government was doing its best .
MUMBAI K . P . Rajan : This is about Talmiz Ahmed ’ s column on the fate of the 39 Indians who were killed by ISIS in Mosul , Iraq ( No Quarter For The Innocent , April 2 ). It ’ s unbelievable that despite having a diplomatic mission in Baghdad , our government was totally in the dark about the fate of the Indians four years ago . It ’ s another instance of our intelligence failure . Had the government followed up what Harjit
POST HOPE A victim ’ s family grieves
Masih ( the lone survivor of the carnage ) had revealed — that all were killed by ISIS in 2014 itself , at least their bodies could have been brought home earlier , instead of serving false hope to their hapless families .
SECUNDERABAD K . R . Srinivasan : Such tragedies happen in conflict-ridden areas like Iraq , more so when a murderous group like ISIS operates with impunity . What is unacceptable is how the external affairs ministry gave hope to the families and told them that efforts were on to locate the men , while dismissing media reports and the account of the lone survivor . It seems there was no urgency on the part of the government to find out the facts , granted that it was fiendishly difficult to do so in a strife-torn country . As it is , when the news was broken a few days back , it came as an utter shock to the relatives , who were living under some hope up till this point .
Embarrassment , Amen
MUSCAT P . A . Jacob : The ‘ land scam ’ controversy has embarrassed not just the top Catholic clergy in Kerala , but a chunk of the state ’ s Christian community ( Sheep Call The Shepherd Wolf , April 2 ). The laity has all the rights to know the business deals taking place in bishops ’ houses , as the Church ’ s properties , institutions and other wealth all ultimately come from the contributions of laymen . The Church Act proposed by the Law Reforms Commission has to be implemented , as the clergy have no right to manipulate the finances .
Front Cordiale ?
BALLARY Shailendra Dasari : I write about the story on how West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is trying to cobble together a federal front for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to counter the march of the BJP ( Sister ’ s Need For Unity , April 2 ). It ’ s high time that the CPI ( M )’ s senior leadership rethought their strategy to halt the juggernaut of Hindutva forces , and stopped keeping the Trinamool and the Congress at arm ’ s length citing ‘ ideological differences ’. Actually , had they allied with the Congress , they would not have lost so badly in Tripura . To bolster the fight against the BJP ’ s aggressive posturing in Bengal , the Left should swallow their ego and knit an alliance of progressive liberals , even if it means playing second fiddle to Mamata . Didi ’ s efforts in this direction should not be blunted by stubborn Marxist intellectuals .
BANGALORE Rangarajan : If a federal front can be mounted against the NDA , and if it can edge past the BJP in the 2019 polls , then Mamata could actually become prime minister with the help of regional chieftains like Sharad Pawar , Chandrababu Naidu and K . Chandrasekhara Rao , with the Congress lending outside support . But will it happen ? Narendra Modi has a huge party apparatus , including the trained and dedicated RSS , which has expanded its footprints all over the country . But Mamata will have to bend backwards to assuage the egos of the regional supremos if she has any ambition to claim leadership .
16 OUTLOOK 16 April 2018