Practice before you preach
US president Barack Obama has been sparing no occasion to preach to India in a veiled manner, religious tolerance—in the latest incident, Obama invoked the name of Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian people request Obama to remember the genuinely humane former US president Abraham Lincoln, who had initiated the emancipation of the African-Americans, in these times when his country is besieged with the shooting of Black citizens by the police. President Obama should implement values President Lincoln upheld on a war-footing to make sure that Ferguson-like incidents don’t happen again. President Obama must also remember the ideals of late Martin Luther King. Since ages, India has been very tolerating of a large number of the non-Hindu as well as non-Indian people like Hoons, Kushans, Mughals, Britishers and what not. Obama, please note well, for ever, that the Indians are a highly tolerant nation.
Hansraj Bhat
Mumbai
Obama vindicated
Given the way the Christians are hounded, persecuted and their places of worship vandalised ever since the BJP government led by Modi came to power, the US president Barack Obama stands vindicated of his statement that the recent acts of sectarian intolerance in India would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi, the person who helped to liberate the Indian nation.
Tharcius S Fernando
Chennai
India needs activist investors
Apropos of the column ‘Capitalism’s unlikely heroes’ (February 7), there is no doubt that activist investors have strengthened company boards and helped clean up the mess that companies’ governance had become. But this is yet to be done here in any significant manner and this phenomenon remains a purely Western one so far. In fact, considering the weak regulatory enforcement, this can be a tool to curb malpractice. The Indian companies, whose governance is equally opaque, and occasionally even mired in controversy, need to see a health dose of activist investors’ interventions. While we have some conscience-keeping in the form of the many laws and regulatory authorities that look into corporate governance, we need no reminding of the Satyam and the NSEL scams to make a comment on the quality of company boards in India. Look at a Kingfisher to see what the irresponsibility of the promoter or the board has led to.
Sumona Pal
Kolkata
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