Letters to the editor: A lacklustre Budget

There is a method in Sangh Parivar?s madness. The BJP?s alleged partisan role in aggravating communal strife in Saharanpur to disrupt law and order in UP,

Ominous signs

There is a method in Sangh Parivar?s madness. The BJP?s alleged partisan role in aggravating communal strife in Saharanpur to disrupt law and order in UP, the alleged foiled political march in a communally surcharged situation for installation of a loud speaker at a temple in Moradabad by VHP, force-feeding of a fasting Muslim by a Shiv Sena MP, the opposition to Sania Mirza?s anointment as Telangana?s brand ambassador by a BJP leader, the introduction of ?saffronised? texts with fastidious claims like ?stem cell research was derived from the Hindu epics? in the schools in Gujarat, the declaration of India as a Hindu Rashtra by a senior Goa minister?come to think of it, don?t news stories these follow a set pattern and give a foreboding feeling that something is seriously going wrong in our country? India has been a rainbow nation for over a millennia and will, hopefully, remain so for the next millennia and beyond. In fact, the ?exclusiveness? propounded by Hindutva ideologues is alien to our civilisation. A tribal of Wayanad, an Iyengar of Tanjavore, a Christian Nadar of Kanyakumari, a Muslim of Malapuram, a Yadav of Patna, a Sikh of Jalandhar and a Dalit of Lucknow cannot be clubbed together or made homogeneous and labelled as Hindus. An ?Indian Christian? makes sense but a ?Christian Hindu? sounds bizarre. The ruling party should take steps to secure the country?s secular fabric and unity. This is the time.

G David Milton

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Irresponsible talks

Apropos of the news report ?Sania hits back after BJP leader calls her Pak?s ?daughter-in-law?? (FE, July 25), Telangana BJP leader K Laxman stoked a controversy by making needless comments about Grand Slam-winner tennis star Sania Mirza who is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. But now a well-deserved and all-round condemnation of his statement has forced Laxman to backtrack and has even led the BJP distance itself from his embarrassing statement. Sania is an Indian citizen and plays for India. The BJP is now the ruling party. Irresponsible talks and actions of the members of BJP can put Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an embarrassing position, especially when global media carries such news. Party leadership needs to deal strictly with such party members.

MC Joshi

Lucknow

This article was first uploaded on July thirty, twenty fourteen, at twenty-eight minutes past one in the night.