End of an era

End of an era
Michael Jackson’s death marks the end of an epic era of pop music (‘Thriller passes into history’, DNA, June 27). He brought a truly global colour to music. Thriller topped the charts as the biggest hit of all times. Then he got embroiled in a series of legal wrangles and was acquitted of all charges, but the travails seemed to have taken a heavy toll on his mental and physical health. His lasting legacy is his music he leaves behind.
—Shekhar Suvarna, Navi Mumbai

Good choice
This is with reference to ‘Centre appoints Nilekani head of unique ID agency’, (DNA, June 26), Nandan Nilekani has relinquished his post as co-chairman of Infosys. The Centre’s decision to entrust Nilekani, a man of integrity, to head the Unique Identification Authority shows PM Manmohan Singh’s commitment to execute the massive project. This identity card issued to every citizen of India  will help to keep track of the Census. This will drastically curtail the number of illegal immigrants who will have to find a safe haven elsewhere.
—Deepak Chikramane, via email

I refer to ‘We need more Nilekanis in government’, by R Jagannathan which applauds the decision of prime minister Manmohan Singh for inducting the professionals like Nandan Nilekani into running the affairs of the country (DNA, June 27). Jagannathan has aptly covered the challenges and pitfalls that Nilekani has to overcome. Although I agree with Jagannathan, I wonder if this is a ploy by the UPA government in regularising the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal?
—S Balasubramanian, Mumbai

US hypocrisy
We are being told by the media that the elections in Iran were rigged even though western pollsters had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead by a 2 to 1 margin on election’s eve. This news is supported by proclamations from Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and others. The US feels that they must stand with the Iranian people to spread democracy. But democracy has never been a real principle deciding the US foreign policy. Principles cannot be selectively applied. In Pakistan, the democratically elected President was overthrown in a coup by Musharraf with the US funding billions of dollars in aid. In Palestinian territories, when the Hamas won in a surprise outcome in closely monitored elections the US refused to accept the democratic will of the people. And this time Iran is the target of their hypocrisy.
—Safiya Sameena, Vijayawada