Are we prepared?
Apropos the report, ‘Centre warns Maharashtra, other states of terror attacks’, (DNA, November 12), Indian intelligence officials are returning home after being denied permission to question US national David Headley arrested by the FBI in Chicago. Alerts have now been issued by home ministry as a precautionary step to five states including Maharashtra, as Headley visited these states previously. Are the state authorities ready to provide necessary defence without any confusion, unlike on 26/11?
—Achyut Railkar, Mumbai
Language confusion
The uproar over taking the oath in Marathi in the Maharashtra assembly was a re-enactment of something that had happened earlier (‘Fighting Hindi hegemony’ by R Jagannathan, DNA, November 12). In 1996, in the UP Assembly, the speaker refused to administer the oath to the two MLAs of the Samajwadi Party, who insisted on taking the oath in Urdu instead in Hindi. They yielded after the speaker warned them of disqualification. Further, in the Karnataka assembly a newly elected MLA lost his ministership for taking the oath in Marathi instead of Kannada. It is unfortunate that three speakers have ruled differently on the same matter. It is high time uniform, rational practices and rules apply. The speaker is supposed to be neutral.
—CS Pathak, Pune
Fake apology
Is the apology by the MNS from the heart (‘Will apologise to House, not to Abu Asim Azmi: MNS’, DNA, November 11)? No way. It is just to maintain their presence in the assembly. Their apology should not be accepted and the decision to suspend the four MLAs should be upheld to teach them a lesson. How can their apology be accepted when they have been repeatedly saying that they are not ashamed of their behaviour and will continue do so in the future. If they are pardoned, it will become a precedent for others who will want to indulge in such acts. Also, some advice forAzmi; kindly refrain from passing comments on senior politicians as it puts you in bad light.
—Sundeep Mohnot, via email
Misreading the cyclone
Apropos ‘Cyclone? City may have misread Met warnings’, (DNA, November 12); one wonders whether the Met office itself had misread the course the cyclone was likely to take. Cyclonic storms developing in the Arabian Sea earlier had always moved parallel to the west coast without moving inland. If this behaviour pattern of cyclones had been understood, perhaps it would have been possible to spare Mumbai of all the suspense and drama.
—V Subramanyan, Thane
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