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May 25, 1998
SPECIALS
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How Readers responded to Saisuresh Sivaswamy's last column
Date sent: Fri, 22 May 1998 11:03:13 -0500 This article is excellent! Very well-written. It was a slap on the face for:
* RNIs (Resident Non-Indians) i e Indian citizens who do everything anti-national. Examples: Mulayam Singh Yadav, Jayalalitha and Dawood Ibrahim.
Prashant
Date sent: Wed, 20 May 1998 11:27:13 -0600 I completely disagree with the author. India is poor, true -- but it is better off than many other Third World countries. Poverty cannot be eliminated in a day, and the government is not completely responsibly for it. With more international investments in India, the standard of living will gradually increase. What the government needs to concern itself with is the security, especially when India is having a neighbour like Pakistan with whom we have fought three wars. It was also responsible for the Bombay blasts and the disturbance in Kashmir and Punjab. Unless India is secure, it can't progress economically. Nobody invests in an insecure country. Now with the sanctions, India will learn to stand by itself. The US sees a big market in India. It also knows China is the only threat to it. The US has already imposed sanctions on Iran, Libya and Cuba. Now the European Union is coming up as a big economic power. The US cannot afford to lose India too. Kuwait was strong economically, but Iraq conquered it in a day. The US liberated it -- but at what cost?. Now the US has got all the contracts. Who gained? Who suffered? The US has supplied its satellite technology for missile-tracking to China, as the Democrats were funded by the Chinese army. Many of the senators in the US, including the speaker, supported India. I don't understand why the author is worried about India spending money on defence. The bottom line is unless we are strong we cannot progress economically.
Anil
Date sent: Wed, 20 May 1998 13:39:59 +0100 Saisuresh should not be so shrill and stark to expose his political leanings. That is a serious matter for a journalist. Does he agree?
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 21:05:37 -0400 Dear Saisuresh, Excellent article. I wonder what Mr D'Souza is doing? Maybe he's hanging at some gane ka raswalla stall! How can Rediff give such people a chance to write? Please forward him your article on my behalf along with a glass of gane ka ras. Your article is absolutely well-written, with consistency and thorough analysis of the subject -- but the title does not suit it. After all, this is our prime minister, who has done so much for the country. It is after half a century there is a prime minister who has refused to bow in front of the so-called developed nations. It is after half a century that there is a government that talks mano-e-mano with neighbouring Pakistan which has waged a proxy war in the state of Kashmir for almost a decade now. We owe our prime minister some respect. Sanjay
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 15:53:52 -0700 Mr Sivaswamy, If you want to compare 1974 with 1998, please don't forget that we got the Emergency imposed on us in 1975 by Indira. By virtue of your arguments, we could predict Mr Vajpayee will impose the Emergency on us in 1999. Fizal
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 15:55:58 -0500 Excellent article! I started reading your newspaper only about a week ago. I am greatly impressed. Ashish
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 14:56:48 -0400 Hey, Why you people sound so low and dull? When everyone is supporting India, even in the US, why this negative writings..? Read www.washingtonpost.com -> world ->india... P R Sundareshwar
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 12:14:20 -0500 In his article, Saisuresh Sivaswamy wrote: "Which reminds me, this must be the first instance where a government is being criticised for having fulfilled one of its pre-election promises. Accustomed as we are to political parties that trash their manifestos on coming to power, I suppose it is rather difficult to accept a party that has fulfilled at least one promise." Actually, one more instance immediately comes to mind: of V P Singh implementing provisions of the Mandal Commission report. This was one of its pre-election promises, and he was criticised for implementing it. Milind
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 13:38:12 -0400 Saisuresh Sivaswamy's article does not even tickle me. For one, there is more appreciation than criticism for the nuclear test in the country. Second, there is hope that the BJP can at least try to fulfill its electoral promises. Third, for the time being Jayalalitha has been bombed (I hope). My question is why not now? What is wrong with the timing? At a time when Pakistan and China keep saying sweetsomethings in each others ears, China transferring the missile technology to Pak, and Pak creating havoc with terrorism -- there's nothing better than now. The Gujral government could have done the same, so could the Rao government. Unfortunately they could not keep it a secret and wilted under the pressure of the West. The Clinton administration is offended mostly because of the intelligence failure. In discussions with American citizens and explaining India's scenario with respect to its defence, there was a lot of understanding. They appreciated the fact and said 'Why not India'? There is no point in crying over spilt milk. What happened in the first 23 years cannot dictate what we should do now. In the fifties there was no China-Pak nexus. As regards poverty, well, Saisuresh Sivaswamy, not conducting the nuclear tests will not get rid of India's poverty. I am proud of my country for what it has done. If any Indian is not, he can have a relook at his loyalties. I do not say that all resources should be diverted to the nuclear program. But, then, that is not Vajpayee's agenda either. Tapas
Date sent: Wed, 13 May 1998 11:05:41 -0400 The tests must surely have acted as a Viagra to the insecure macho feelings of the BJP and its supporters. Pseudo-nationalism, the BJP-style, on the nuclear level works much like the Bajrang Dal complex, which seeks solutions to the Indian-ills by breaking and building monuments. Both avoid real issues like cowardly bullies. Both, like Viagra, produce illusions of grandeur. Viagra, at least, is classified as a drug. Testing of nukes isn't. The problem though is that while the BJP will reap the benefits of testing by solidifying its core support drawn from rabid fundamentalists such as the Parivarites, the costs of the tests will be borne by the people as a whole. So much for an able and stable government. And the mouthpiece of the mouthpiece -- Mr Mahajan (loser from Bombay!) adds to the mythologising by his statement about the "5,000 years of peaceful policy"! Mr Suave Public Relations Man, go study history! Finally, even while showing its stupid macho-muscles, the BJP does not have the spine to do it unequivocally. So the mouthpiece, the ever-silent Vajpayee (beloved of the Parivarites) does his best to write explanatory letters to the heads of state when he had not thought of following the international codes of informing neighbours before testing. Similarly, the rhetoric of swadeshi and Hindu-pride seems to not stop BJP finance ministers from coming to the US to pacify the IMF and WB. Why such deference to the powers-that-be when you've done your tests? Maybe they believe they can fool all the people all the time??? Murli Natrajan |
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