Paying the price for cowardice

This refers to the report CBI grills Raja, raids Kalmadi (December 25). Enough time was given to Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja and their associates to destroy evidence before the CBI raids.

No agency can reach those who control the strings of corruption

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This refers to the report CBI grills Raja, raids Kalmadi (December 25). Enough time was given to Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja and their associates to destroy evidence before the CBI raids. The raids are nothing but an eyewash to prove that the government is sincere in acting against the corrupt. The fact is, with the judiciary mired in serious corruption charges and the CBI a puppet of the government, no one is trustworthy. Scams worth thousands of crores of rupees cannot take place without the support of heavyweights in the system.

Danendra Jain, via email

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The prime minister is the head of the council of ministers and is accountable to the nation and its people. His office is supposed to be manned by people of the highest calibre and integrity, who obviously failed to caution the PM about the mismanagement of the Commonwealth Games, the controversy around the 2G spectrum and the price rise of essential commodities. Lack of timely action has led to the present embarrassment.

PS Sinha, via email

Paying the price for cowardice

The Pakistan-backed LeT’s daring threat to attack Indian cities on the night of December 31 is the result of the government’s weak policies against terrorists (Nation-wide terror alert, December 28). They have observed that the Indian government does not dare to hang terrorists. Dreaded terrorists like Afzal Guru, Ajmal Kasab, Abu Salem and Abu Ismail continue to enjoy the hospitality of Indian jails and the government spends crores of rupees on their security. The martyrdom of our brave security men is futile given the government’s cowardly policies.

Hansraj Bhat, Mumbai

The conviction isn’t convincing

With reference to Prasad Nichenametla and Nagendar Sharma’s article Citizen’s jury still out (Big Picture, December 28), it appears that the advocates of civil liberty are shocked at Binayak Sen’s conviction. Sen might have been sympathetic to the Naxal cause but equating him with the brutal Naxalites is not fair. Sen’s case must not come to represent the Indian State’s persecution of an individual for his beliefs.

Bichu Muttathara, via email

Pakistan’s marginalised minority

The report Pak Hindus ask for asylum in India (December 28) is shocking. Several Hindu families living in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province have approached the Indian High Commission in Islamabad seeking political asylum in India. It is shameful that Pakistan cannot protect its minorities. It must remember that India has lived up to its secular tradition and not a single Indian Muslim has ever asked for asylum in any country to escape religious persecution.

RJ Khurana, Bhopal

Who’ll pay for the freebies?

Abhijit Banerjee’s article Let’s keep the faith (The Poverty Line, December 28) should be an eye-opener for the practitioners of Indian politics. Indians have developed a task for freebies. Charity, undertaken by political parties in the name of social welfare, is also financed by public money and and is a practice that needs to be done away with. Else any political party that was the public exchequer will always manage to grab power.

SP Ganapati, via email

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Banerjee has astutely observed that the resigned, facile thinking that sab saala chor hai, is one of the biggest threats to democracy. Such thinking allows the status quo of restrictive apathy to tighten its grip on progressive thought and action.

Ashish Rai, via email