A great loss

A great loss
If we add up the bits and pieces of Jyoti Basu’s remarkable life we’ll realise that he did a lot for India: for the country’s secularism, Left consciousness, political equilibrium, ethnic relations and, in general, for democratic well-being  (‘Farewell, comrade’, DNA, January 18). However, Basu’s legacy is a fragile Left consciousness that has been losing relevance. Apart from that consciousness, his biggest gift to Bengal is land reforms, something which the city-dweller has never understood or never been able to reconcile with. He gave Bengal’s poor dignity and self-respect but couldn’t guarantee prosperity as we have come to define the word after liberalisation. He will be remembered not for his deeds and achievements but for what he was, what he came to represent.
—Mohd Ziyaullah Khan
II
Jyoti Basu is no more. A great leader, he remained as the communist party’s patriarch and spokesman for the common man till the end. He created history as the longest serving elected communist leader after 23 years as the chief minister of West Bengal. He was a national leader of great standing, much beyond the dimension of a staunch communist. His love for common man and his cause marked him out as one of the greatest sons of contemporary India. It is difficult to fill in the
vacuum created by this Titan’s death.
—ARK Pillai, Mumbai

Water woes
The ruling party in Maharashtra, in the recent elections promised to give legal water supply for non-notified slums before 2000 whereas the municipal laws don’t permit water connections to slums built post 1995. The citizens group, Yuva, conducted a survey and discovered that in 14 per cent of the cases water has been supplied illegally to non-notified slums through dubious ration cards. It is equally important to note that about 30 per cent of the water needs are met by the water tanker syndicate. A lot of water is either wasted through leakages or illegal diversions and as a result people who are genuinely entitled to the standard quota, are deprived of their normal supply.
—Deepak Agharkar, via email

National shame
The cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar should be congratulated for taking initiative to come to the aid of hockey players in their hour of need (‘Team India to help hockey players’, DNA, January 16). It is deplorable that the hockey players who won the World Cup twice and earned gold and silver medals in Olympics for India, had to boycott training just to get their past incentives.
—Anil R Torne, via email