letters
21-Gun Salute
LUCKNOW M . C . Joshi : Apropos of your cover package on former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ( A Permanent Pause , Aug 27 ), with Vajpayee ’ s passing the era of clean politics , mutual respect , trust , and consensus in politics has gone forever . In his speech in the Lok Sabha on his 13-day government losing a trust motion by a single vote , he said that he could not indulge in unfair means to ret ain power and resigned . No other party was willing to support his government at that time . Subsequently , other parties supported him in a second stint , this time for 13 months . Managing a 24-party coa lition for the full term of his third government was no less than miraculous . In one of his poems , Vajpayee has said that he would return , but we all know that it is only a one-way journey . The void created by his departure is forever . Respectful tributes !
NOIDA Bal Govind : True statesman , gentleman , great orator , consensus builder , a true democrat , all adjectives are small words for Atal Behari Vajpayee . The true barometer of the success of a politician is how he or she is accepted beyond the party line , and that is where he has no parallel . After his death , it ’ s Indian politics which has become poorer . He could be remembered for many things , but at the top of the list would be the nuclear test at Pokhran , his engagement with Pakistan , the Golden Quadrilateral , Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and the Kisan credit card . He carried on the spirit of economic reforms int roduced by the P . V . Narasimha Rao government . The disinvestment in BALCO , Hindustan Zinc , Indian Petrochemicals and VSNL must be mentioned , as well as how VSNL ’ s monopoly on international telephony was then ended . And on the soc ial front , there was Sarva Shiksha
August 27 , 2018
Abhiyan . Today ’ s politicians would do well to watch his old videos of parliamentary debate and learn how to behave and function in Parliament .
HYDERABAD J . S . Acharya : Atal Behari Vajpayee was a marvel , who so effortlessly stepped across the Lakshman rekha of party propriety and ideology , and yet garnered all-round res pectability . During his political life , he evoked two dominant reactions — some described him as the ‘ right man in the wrong party ’ while others argued that his ‘ moderate face ’ had helped the BJP acquire legitimacy . For someone who had joined active politics back in 1951 upon the founding of the Jana Sangh , and who had suffered several rej ections at the ballot box , he showed not a trace of bitterness . He retained equanimity in defeat and victory , never giving up and , eventually , in the late ’ 90s , he tasted power . That Vajpayee was a democrat to the core was strikingly manifest when he accepted with grace the fall of his government by one vote in 1996 . He ret urned with a bigger mandate and enjoyed a cordial relationship with the Opposition between 1999 and 2004 , a miracle when seen in the context of the antagonism today . In Parliament , too , Opposition leaders never fought shy of showing their respect for Vajpayee . The only regret would be that Vajpayee entered South Block 10 years too late , when his health was already on the decline .
Unscripted Comedy
BANGALORE M . Mustafa : Indian politicians are not particularly well known for their sense of humour . Karunanidhi , however , was an exception ( Episodes from the Script , Aug 20 ). A few years ago , when he had undergone spinal surgery , the doctors had directed the attendant nurse not to give him any water , on medical grounds . When he woke up , the first thing Karunanidhi asked for was a glass of water . When the nurse politely refused , he immediately asked her , “ Are you from Karnataka ?”
The Other Side
JAMMU Rajiv Chopra : Apropos of Self Care In A Blinding State ( Aug 13 ), you have a lot of sympathy for the victims of pellet guns in Kashmir . Kindly ask the victims what they were doing on the streets . See the picture on the other side : a CRPF jawan from a small village in western UP or Bihar surrounded by a mob baying for his blood !
Why , This Is Hell
VARANASI Indu S . Dube : With reference to Hell Is Here ( Aug 27 ), at this stage it is clear that merely making laws can never create a secure social environment for women and children . Therefore , unorthodox measures are needed to create exemplars and deter- one-liner
Secunderabad Padmini Raghavendra
The condition of child shelters in India would make a Dickens novel appear cheerful .
4 Outlook 10 September 2018