LETTERS

Voter's dilemma

The Cover Story ("Voter's dilemma", May 7) was analytical and informative. No political party is genuinely interested in fighting the elections on the basis of a development agenda, as their contribution to the basic needs of the common man is negligible. Otherwise, how can you explain the fact that after nearly half-a-century of Independence, people do not have even basic necessities like clean water, food and shelter?

G. Mohanty
New Delhi

The Cover Story has impeccably analysed the hollowness of different political parties and the voters' confusion. The BJP has been ruling the country with its allies for six years and it has to take the blame for the country's underdevelopment. But it is equally true that the Congress, despite having had charismatic leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at the helm of affairs, did little to rid the country of problems such as poverty and unemployment. Elections are still fought and won on the planks of caste, religion, region and local issues and on the strength of money and muscle power.

Akhil Kumar
Delhi

This refers to the article "The Left agenda". When most of the parties are in agreement over the neo-liberal economic reforms, the only political segment that is still rooting for a pro-people agenda, is the Left. In the name of socialism, big businesses were helped by the post-independence political leadership. The same section has benefited from the policy of liberalisation.

The Left believes that another world is possible, which demolishes the myth of the TINA (there is no alternative) factor. It has a clear-cut vision about the issues of concern to the people. Although it is confined to a few States in electoral politics, its role in resisting the anti-people policies of the rulers cannot be underestimated.

Hari
Virudhunagar

What would a voter do when the political party that he supports or sympathises with fields a candidate who is either corrupt or has a criminal background? What should a voter do when the person he voted for in the previous elections now appears as the candidate of another party, which the voter opposes? A voter also faces a dilemma when the party he supports forms an alliance with the party he opposes and fields a common candidate. No wonder an impartial, educated and honest person remains disinterested in casting his vote.

S. Raghunatha Prabhu
Alappuzha

Drought

This is with reference to R. Krishnakumar's article on the drought in Kerala and farmers' suicide ("Driven to death", May 7). Water depletion and improper land management can be the major causes of such suicides. This story of the havoc wrought by modernisation is heard from different parts of the country. That it is happening in rain-drenched Kerala is a surprise.

Aravind Kesavan
Brisbane, Australia

Iraq

This has reference to the report "Joint resistance" (May 7). How long can the U.S. stay in Iraq? The U.S. suspicion that Saddam Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction to annihilate humankind, proved to be wrong when it occupied Iraq. It should have entrusted the administration to the people of Iraq as quickly as possible and left the country.

The "alliance of the willing" is not willing to stay any longer and they want to quit Iraq. The U.S. should leave Iraq forthwith, to avoid another Vietnam.

G.E.M. Manoharan
Coimbatore

The Bofors scandal

The article "The Lindstrom disclosures" (May 7) brings out some interesting details about the scandal. The six questions asked by Sven Lindstrom should be answered by the CBI, which is investigating the scandal. Sonia Gandhi should not be interrogated until the CBI finds some incriminating evidence against her. Otherwise, it would be another case of harassing the Gandhi family without any evidence of wrongdoing.

Bikram Chand
Pithorgarh, Uttaranchal

NATO and Russia

In the context of NATO's eastward expansion ("NATO encircling Russia", May 7) one should welcome Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko's call for expanding the trilateral dialogue between India, Russia and China. "Interaction of Eurasia's three largest nations," he said, "could become a weighty factor of strengthening international and regional security and countering new threats and challenges of the modern times."

If the world's largest country, the most populous country and the largest democracy, that is, Russia, China and India respectively, representing 40 per cent of mankind, can come together on a common platform, they could offer a credible challenge to the arrogance of the only superpower, and also stop the NATO in its eastward push, which is threatening the very existence of Russia and perhaps China too.

K.P. Rajan
Mumbai

Cricket

Vijay Lokapally's "Back on the throne" (May 7) made interesting reading. The well-written tribute to Brian Lara brought home the fact that Lara, a batsman of all seasons, was often misunderstood by the cricket pundits, who accused him of not being a team player.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee
Faridabad

The recent cricket series in Pakistan is no doubt a great success for all sides involved. The game of cricket has matured, but look at other sports, which are languishing.

For instance, there are more squash courts in Singapore (which is smaller than Mumbai city) than in all of India. There may perhaps be more swimming pools here than in Japan, but how many are there of Olympic standards in size and quality? There are countless such examples, but you get the drift: champions cannot be produced from thin air.

Even more pertinent than infrastructure, however, is establishing a sports culture. We are still notoriously biased in favour of academics. Sport is seen as a `time pass', or even more deleterious, a complete waste of time. Unless there is a change in the mindset, unless sport becomes a way of life, success at the highest level can only be sporadic.

Umesh S. Shukla
Ahmedabad

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