Unusual diplomacy
One can’t help but admire the unusual diplomatic route that prime minister Narendra Modi seems to have taken since day 1, especially in keeping relations with our neighbours warm. Before the World Cup, he called the leader of the Saarc nations playing for the Cup, including Ashraf Ghani, the newly-elected president of Afghanistan which is making its World Cup debut. What the calls will achieve, nobody can say. But even if they don’t translate into love and brotherhood in the sub-continent, at least, it shows that New Delhi is not averse to starting non-formal communication with the neighbours and there is every probability that the rapport built through this mode could one day pay off.
Ritika Vohra
Pune
Don’t give up reform agenda
Apropos of your edit, ‘AAPke liye reforms’ (February 14), you have hit the nail right on the head. The Modi government was brought to power because the people wanted growth and the jobs that come with it, not pay-outs that, in any case, were too paltry to make a difference. The people are responding to a new kind of politics, one that is exemplified by Modi. If the government were to deviate from it, it could very easily lose the trust of the people. It is illogical to see the Delhi elections as an anti-reform one. The largest employer in Delhi is the government itself. The people who voted in the Assembly elections are—in significant numbers—employees of a tough taskmaster, the new government. Besides, Delhi’s poll issues are very different from the economic ones that compel the electoral choice in most of the rest of India. It is time the government realised this.
Prahlad Bhasin
Mumbai
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