Best Letters Of The Week

Hoping for the best

This refers to Arindam Chaudhuri's editorial “1982-2012: Ten Decisive Changes In India” (TSI, Mar 18). The decisive changes mentioned in the editorial are purely and surely the legacy of Rajiv Gandhi. He was a charismatic leader with a vision. He was very different from other Indian politician. Alas! Destiny snatched him away leaving the nation in the lurch. His son Rahul Gandhi seems to lack decisiveness in his approach in spite of all the operatives behind him. He has miserably failed as a test case in UP elections to make any headway. However, the nation waits, hoping the best for him.

SatyaMurty

Kakinada

 

His father's shadow

This refers to “Why young dreams die faster” (TSI, Mar 25). It is sad to learn that an array of young chief ministers did not live up to the expectations. This situation is rather unfortunate to say the least. Though we have Akhilesh Yadav becoming the youngest CM of UP, he started on a wrong note by inducting tainted politicians like Raja Bhaiyya into his cabinet. This move will not do any good to him or his reputation. He seems to be just a rubber stamp of his father as in all probability it will be his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who will be calling the shots when it comes to administration. This goes on to show the sad state of affairs of the politics of the country. What these young politicians need to be aware of is to sustain their popularity. They need to retain their focus and remember the tall promises they had made before getting to the coveted seat. And how Akhilesh Yadav – latest in the list of young CMs – fulfils the promises he made during last month or so, will be keenly watched by his critics and fans alike. We sincerely hope that he emerges from the towering shadow of his father and comes of age soon.

Bal Govind

Noida

 

Unravel the mystry

This is in reference to KM Gopakumar’s article "Shun diplomatic opacity" (TSI, Mar 18). The India EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks have been on for some time, as have been some other FTA talks, notably Japan and Israel. The difference between the FTAs and the earlier trade talks under the WTO regime is that while the multilateral talks under WTO are relatively open with texts in the public domain, the FTA talks are shrouded in secrecy. Right now India is negotiating on a whole host of issues, the most important being agriculture and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). It was India that had held out in GATT that Intellectual Property is not a trade issue and agreed this being brought in GATT only under duress. It has already paid a heavy price in sacrificing the patent regime that existed earlier with agriculture and pharmaceuticals now being brought under product patents. 

Rupam Pathak 

Shyamnagar, West Bengal