Anna should talk to the Centre

Anna should talk to the Centre
The announcement made by Anna Hazare that he and his team will call off their agitation and the fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in order to fight against a strong Lokpal Bill is the biggest defeat conceded by Team Anna to the UPA government. The fast by Team Anna members saw only their deteriorating condition, lack of support from the government and the people. But for this, they themselves are to be blamed. Hazare should call off his agitation for good and start engaging in a dialogue across the table with the government for a strong Lokpal Bill, rather than trying to dictate their own terms.

—Bhagwan Thadani, via e-mail

FM radio and traffic
Thanks to the FM radio broadcast, we have started getting updates on traffic jams in the city and suggestions for alternative routes. Driving on Mumbai roads is a nightmare with 350 cars joining the existing lot every day. However, a proper signaling system can surely make the flow of traffic better than what it is today. More often than not, we find the signals going out of order and the traffic constables are not in a position to control the peak-hour rush. The authorities concerned should sit and plan for a solution to this never-ending problem.

—Jayanthi S Maniam, Mumbai

RIP Gore Vidal
The passing away of iconic American novelist Gore Vidal marks the end of an era in the literary world. Vidal was a towering personality and a giant among a generation of American novelists that include Truemen Capote and Norman Mailer. Besides being a novelist par excellence, Vidal was also a playwright, screenwriter, essayist, politician and commentator. In a career spanning six decades, he wrote 25 novels, essays, screenplays and TV dramas. He was acclaimed for his historical novels like ‘Burr’, ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Julian’. Though born at the United Military Academy, he always remained critical of the American establishment and its militarism, especially in Vietnam and Iraq. He will always remain an admired thinker in American history who always spoke his mind like Mark Twain and HL Mencken.

—Ramesh G Jethwani, Bangalore

Shinde’s elevation
This has reference to ‘Finance for PC, Shinde gets home ministry’ (Aug 1). This development is disappointing. It can certainly not be called a major reshuffle by any standards and seems to be only a game of musical chairs. What is intriguing is the elevation of a person like Sushilkumar Shinde when the portfolio of power he was holding came in for criticism due to two blackouts in two days. There were reports that Shinde wrote a letter to the Prime Minister complaining about the overdraw of power by some states on Monday. But the very next day, rather than “discussing the fire-fighting measures” for the power outage, he seemed more interested in pushing through an irrigation project in his constituency Solapur during the EGoM on the drought situation. It clearly shows the priorities of Shinde who has been entrusted with an important portfolio like the Home ministry. By doing this, the Prime Minister seems to have given an impression that instead of being taken to task for his failures, a minister can also be rewarded with a plum posting. I wish we had another SB Chavan to man this post.

—Yash P Verma, Pune