Dravid’s a class player

Anna, be careful
It’s true that Anna Hazare has taken the initiative to fight corruption, which is main cause of the sufferings of people. But I for one do not feel he can sail against the tide. It can be seen that politicians utter one thing in public and do the opposite when they are in the Parliament or assemblies. The best example of this is the women’s reservation bill. The members are not against the bill, but they do not allow the bill to become law and they can advocate best excuses. If the present supporters of Lokayukta Bill were sincere why was it not passed for all these years? There are several states where there is no Lokayukta. A political party which fully supports the Annaji’s Lokayukta Bill had hurled a legal threat against the Lokayukta in Karnataka. My request to him is not to take the political class for granted. It will be advisable for his group to allow parliamentary democracy to succeed.
—SS Nair, via email

Dravid’s a class player
Rahul Dravid’s inclusion in one-dayers in England has raised a big discussion. Whether he will play in the ongoing series or will he call it quits after returning to India is the debate. Is the selection committee planning a ‘Jayasuriya’ type of farewell for Dravid is another thing being talked by rumour mongers. Players of Rahul Dravid calibre should have played consistently for the Indian one-day side considering his record in the shorter version of the game. He was moved up and down and shuffled like a pack of cards to pave a way out for him. He was treated similarly in the Tests; but a class player like him could not be shunted out from the Test team also. It is a tribute to Dravid’s greatness that the captain and selectors had to fall back on him in the time of crisis. No other player in the present team, barring Tendulkar and Laxman, could have borne the brunt of fast bowlers of England breathing down their neck. Confusing signals are emanating on Dravid’s role the one-dayers. However, being the level-headed player that he is, he won’t struggle in the shorter version of the game.
—Ganapathi Bhat, via email

Don’t disintegrate India
This is apropos ‘The Indian State’s Kashmir fetish’ (August 7). It’s a proxy war that Pakistan is playing through Kashmiri militants. We gave them a free hand to vitiate minds of the Kashmiri people against India. Our leaders, since 1947, have never said in one voice that Kashmir’s accession is full and final. A lot of leniency from our government, continuation of article 370 has made Kashmiris believe that they are different from India. When Kashmiri Pandits were driven out from valley, no one talked of their right to stay in Kashmir. The condition in North East India is also precarious. States adjoining the Bangladesh border have been systematically infiltrated by Bangladeshi Muslims over the years. What about Naxalites? If they demand a separate territory should we agree to it? Such discussion will open a Pandora’s Box and lead to increase in militancy.
—Kishore Moghe, via email

New talent needed
The world number one Test side is trailing 0-2 in the four-match series, and it is time to revamp the side by dropping Yuvraj, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan once for all. Khan could not play a crucial role in the first Test and retired to the pavilion after 13.3 overs. He was liability in the side for the rest of the match, which India lost by a huge margin of 196 runs. Even in a practise game, he could not bowl more than three overs. It is better to get rid of injured players and look for fresh talent for Team India. There are fringe players waiting in the wings and knocking the doors of Test cricket. It is better to infuse young blood instead of always playing with the same team and failing miserably at the altar.
—CK Subramaniam, Navi Mumbai

Maintain skywalks
The MMRDA has been building skywalks all across the city. However, the two skywalks in Badlapur are not being maintained properly. They are very far from each other and aren’t even connected to the Kalyan-end of the railway platform, and without this they aren’t much of use then. It is very difficult for people to walk on them without any light during the night; street lights too haven’t been working for the last two months. It is completely dark at night; it is possible to walk on these skywalks only because of the little light coming from the shops nearby. After spending crores of rupees on building such skywalks, the authority concerned should at least ensure that they are maintained properly.
—Venugopalan

Congress’s double standards
When the Lokayukta Report in Karnataka leaked, Congress went overboard in demanding the resignation of the Karnataka chief minister even before the formal report was submitted. The BJP took the decision that the chief minister should go. Now the CAG report on the Commonwealth Games has been published, which has indicted the Delhi government on many counts. While the BJP has demanded the resignation of Sheila Dikshit as chief minister of Delhi Government, Congress has decided that she will not resign. Is this because Dikshit is related to the first family of Congress that a separate yardstick is being used? Doesn’t this expose the double standards of Congress? The BJP has proved to be a party with a difference.
—Sharad Kumar, via email

Take stern action
The row between the management of SevenHills hospital and the BMC is simply not understandable because, while giving such a prime plot of land to a private party, the BMC should have entered into a properly drafted legal agreement. If now the party is going back on it, all that the BMC has to do is to cut the services to the hospital, but the defiance of the hospital authorities indicates that there is definitely something fishy and hence the BMC is only giving empty threats instead of taking stern action.
—SG Shenoy, via email