LETTERS

Ayodhya

In his article "Land and legality" (March 1), A.G. Noorani has pointed out that awarding any part of the land adjoining the site of the Babri Masjid to a Vishwa Hindu Parishad-controlled body would amount to "flouting the Supreme Court's clear ruling on the matter". In other words, it would amount to contempt of the Supreme Court. But who cares? The Bharatiya Janata Party is caught between the devil (Hindu fundamentalists) and the deep sea (the need to retain power at any cost). The only way out for the BJP is to enact a law laying down that no land for any religious structures shall be allocated by any government without the approval of Parliament. The same law should be applicable to the State governments also.

R.N. Vaswani
Mumbai

Advani and the demolition

I must thank Frontline for reminding us that Home Minister L.K. Advani has been unable to emerge with clean hands in relation to "the tragic events of December, 6, 1992" ("Advani and Ayodhya", March 1). In your January 1, 1993 issue, Venkitesh Ramakrishnan had raised one important question: "Why did Advani advance his visit to Ayodhya by a night (December 5 night)?" and "What transpired at the meeting between him, Bajrang Dal leader Vinay Katiyar and Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party leader Moreshwar Save on December 6 morning?" Or after the left and right dome of the mosque fell, why was Advani (at 3-15 p.m. on December 6) "heard exhorting the kar sevaks over the public address system, to block all entry points to Ayodhya as there was a possibility of the Central forces making an attempt to storm the site and stop the kar sevaks' work" ("The Tragic sequence", Frontline, January 1, 1993)?

When the estranged daughter-in-law, Gauri Advani, makes some charges before the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry about her father-in-law L.K. Advani's reply to Vinay Katiyar (just before the rath yatra began on November 30, 1992, at Varanasi) - "Gulami ke nishan kab tak rahenge? Masjid ko dhwasth ker ke dikhao. Sahi samay aa gaya" (Until when will we tolerate signs of slavery? Bring down the masjid. The time has come)" - she says something that proves the earlier report right. It is a shame that such a man is the country's Home Minister.

No doubt, owing to some pressure, Gauri Advani withdrew her application "to depose before the Commission", but this does not clear Advani's hand in the demolition. As the noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande told reporters on December 18, 2000, "the BJP was not clueless on the demolition conspiracy... There are, however, grave suspicions about the involvement of certain individuals of a particular political party." Remember Deshpande was present during the time of demolition.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee
Faridabad

West Asia

The situation in West Asia is serious once again ("Undermining peace", March 1). Since the day Ariel Sharon took over as the Prime Minister of Israel, the tension between Israel and Palestine has increased greatly, rendering innocent civilians, both Arabs and Israelis, victims.

The refusal of Israel and the U.S. to do business with Yasser Arafat is mistake. By sidelining Arafat and his Fatah movement, they are only indirectly encouraging the Hamas, a militant outfit fighting for the Palestinian cause. With a highly motivated cadre, the Hamas is one of the most sophisticated militant outfits in the world. Even in the Fatah movement the younger elements led by Marwan Barghouti advocate armed resistance, leaguing with suicide attackers.

The latest crisis was precipitated by Israeli strikes on civilian targets in areas under the Palestinian Authority. The hardliners in Israel, encouraged by Sharon's strong views, are for an all-out attack on the Palestine Liberation Organisation. All these factors will lead to further violence and destruction.

The international community, especially the U.S., should take a sympathetic view of Palestinians, who are facing poverty and unemployment. The only solution to the problem is to revive the dialogue and proceed on the lines of the Oslo peace accord of 1993.

Ashish S. Thakare
Pune

Babies in Salem

This refers to the article on the "unwanted" girl babies of Salem district ("Life and death in Salem", March 1).

The cradle baby scheme was introduced by the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government with fanfare. Now, with the Salem District Collector rather readily accepting baby girls, can one expect the scheme to get a new lease of life?

The monitoring committees at the district, block and village levels should meet every month and the Collectors concerned should act on the suggestions made at these meetings.

Mani Nataraajan
Chennai

Deportation

The arrest and deportation of Aftab Ansari, the mastermind behind the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata, has come as a morale booster for the authorities ("The arrest of Aftab Ansari", March 1).

The CBI should not remain complacent with these early successes. CBI prosecutors have on many occasions, owing to their poor homework, been unable to nail criminals. Indian authorities should also remember that the United Arab Emirates acted so fast because Aftab was wanted mainly for the attack on the American Centre and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is also involved. Had the attack been on some Indian facility, deportation would not have been easy. Why are criminals like Anees Ibrahim (brother of Dawood Ibrahim), Chhota Shakeel and Abu Salem, who are believed to reside in and operate from Dubai, not deported to India even after the Indian government provided sufficient evidence about their crimes in the country?

S. Balakrishnan
Jamshedpur

The President's message

In his Republic Day address, President K.R. Narayanan suggested the creation of an organisation on the lines of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission of the U.S. ("A presidential message", February 15).

The suggestion gives rise to some important questions. First, has the government done enough for the uplift of Dalits in its own offices and institutions? If such a body is created in India, will it not run counter to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom to carry on any occupation, trade or business in their own ways?

The reservation of 15 per cent seats for the Scheduled Caste in educational institutions and government jobs has benefited only the elite in that section. It is time the government applied the "creamy layer" principle to the S.Cs. It should also put an end to the practice of political patrons distibuting public sector jobs to their clients irrespective of their merits. Only after taking such measures can the government think of establishing a body to ensure equality in employment.

G.S. Sampath
Bangalore

English usage

I refer to the letter from Argentine Ambassador Gerardo M. Biritos on the use in modern English of words borrowed from other languages (February 15). Having frequently come across the word forums, instead of fora, in many United Nations documents, I was on the horns of a dilemma - whether I should be adventurous and follow the path shown by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan or be rigidly orthodox and stick to the classical line advanced by the Ambassador. I am happy that you have now laid down the rule, which spares me the agonising choice. I think that "grammatical loyalty to the borrowed" is not only a good rule but also more respectful towards other languages that have considerably enriched the English language over the ages.

Talking about permissiveness in English, besides Tom Lehrer the author George Mikes also comes to mind. He made the classic remark, "England and America are two nations separated by the same language."

Of late, another word from another language that has found its way into print and electronic media is madrasas, used as the plural form of madrasa (an Islamic religious seminary). In the language it is borrowed from, the plural of madrasa is madaaris. Similarly, it should be Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and not Lashkar-e-Toiba. "Tayyeba" comes from the root "Taib".

Like Ambassador Biritos, I am also a keen and regular reader of Frontline, the finest magazine in the country.

Ajoy Bagchi
New Delhi

History textbooks

The article "Imparting prejudice" (February 15) exposes the efforts being made by the ruling party and the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to manipulate history. Such manipulation would lead to young minds being filled with obscurantist and fundamentalist ideas. It has been rightly observed by reputed historians that the NCERT's view of Indian history is at variance with reality.

People should shed their illusions about past glory and adopt the values of enlightenment contributed by science.

K.B. Padia
Ahmedabad

* * *

The author of the article "A coarsening debate" (February 1) presents a one-sided picture by focussing on historians whose books are being changed. There is much more to this controversy than meets the eye. There has been a subtle attempt to colour young minds and to distort Sikh history.

The court cases, in which I am involved since 1995, show that the opinions of historians on Sikh history and Sikh gurus are not free from ideological bias. The abuse of history was evident from the paragraphs inserted in the books brought out by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

When questioned in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, both Prof. Bipin Chandra and Prof. Satish Chandra, the authors of Modern India and Medieval India respectively, failed to substantiate their statements with historical evidence. After reading the objections made in the writ petition regarding Sikh history, the NCERT or Satish Chandra recast the whole paragraph in the reprint of the book in 2000. Earlier they had defended the paragraph as published in the reprint of the same book in 1997. This shows the manner in which our historians and responsible institutions such as the NCERT work. By convention, no change is made in the reprint of a book, as it is just another impression of a book published earlier. This also shows that Satish Chandra and the NCERT were not sure about the correctness of the contents of the paragraph as published in the 1997 reprint.

It is of interest to note that in the original paragraph Guru Tegh Bahadur was depicted as a "disturber of peace in Punjab", but in the 2000 edition he has been depicted as a "plunderer and rapist, laying waste the whole province of Punjab". However, J.S. Rajput, NCERT Director, claims that the present government had nothing to do with such remarks against Guru Tegh Bahadur as it assumed office only in 1998. The facts on record prove the contrary. Howsoever hard the BJP government may try, it cannot escape the blame.

M.S. Rahi
Chandigarh

Dalits

The Bhopal Declaration should be regarded as a document that would lead to the salvation of Dalits ("The Dalit cause", February 15). However, I do not agree with its formulation that globalisation and economic liberalisation are a boon for Dalits.

Statistics show that globalisation is responsible for the increase in poverty in India in the past decade. More than half the Dalit population is poor.

The process of liberalisation has commercialised education, taking professional education beyond the reach of Dalits. Under globalisation the market has become so competitive that poor Dalits will hardly be able to survive in it.

The declaration criticises all environmental, feminist and secular movements as being anti-Dalit. Although these are organised by people belonging to the upper castes, their aim is to facilitate the uplift of deprived social classes such as Dalits. The declaration has labelled both the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes as Dalits. I think these are distinct groups.

Arshad Amanullah
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

* * *

The story of Manoharlal's son has many flaws. Having taken up professional education and attended interviews, I have never come across a company asking for an applicant's caste. A candidate's biodata is an individually customised document where one puts information that makes one a prospective recruit for the company. The only parameters considered are the candidate's academic record, experience, participation in extracurricular activities, and so on.

Only the application forms of public sector companies have a 'caste' column. Here, the purpose is to see whether the applicant is eligible for reservation.

K.K. Mishra
Lucknow

Cotton

The article "Drowning cotton's lifebuoy" (February 1) was informative. Please keep publishing articles on rural India.

Globalisation is inevitable and India should join in the process. But I fail to understand why the government does not protect the farmers by raising the tariff on imports. India lives in its villages, and farmers and agricultural workers need to be protected.

Venkat Annapu
Cranbury, N.J., U.S.

INSAT-3C

The launch of INSAT-3C has made every Indian proud ("A successful launch", February 15). The satellite will help augment telecommunications services in the country. The exorbitant sum of money paid to Arianespace for launching the satellite - approximately $77 million - points to the urgent need for India to develop launch capability. The successful test of an indigenous cryogenic engine gives hope.

K.E. Joseph
Manjeri, Kerala

* * *

The successful launch of INSAT-3C marks another stage in the evolution of space research in India. It proved that India can compete with the United States and Russia in space technology.

Sachin L. Mane
Osmanabad, Maharashtra

The media and Kashmir

In today's world, the international perception of a conflict can have far-reaching implications for the parties involved. A case in point is Musharraf's tough stand against Islamic fundamentalists. But as we smile at the General's discomfiture under global pressure, a stark reality emerges. Tomorrow India may be pressured to make some significant concessions on the Kashmir issue. The worldwide perception is that the complex problem of Kashmir started as an insurgency against the Indian Army. India has time and again refused to recognise the human rights problem in Kashmir.

Now there is a growing realisation that the Indian media have a role to play, by exposing the excesses of the Army and the extent of alienation among the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

When Noam Chomsky finds fault with American foreign policy, we nod in agreement. But when he says the same about us, we turn our backs on him.

No Pakistani believes that Pakistan was behind the incidents of December 13 and no Indian believes that the Indian government has exploited the Kashmiri people. Indians must know that their own house is not in order and that cross-border terrorism is but an alibi for the suppression of the Kashmiri people.

Ankur Singla
Chandigarh