Respect democracy

Respect democracy
In a democracy every citizen has the right to express his or her views without fear in matters of public interest. No one should be subjected to threats of reprisals for speaking out without causing offence to anyone. Those who threaten violence when their narrow parochial stands are contradicted must be exposed by the media. The government needs to act swiftly against them for their unconstitutional behavior. Citizens too must ensure that such people are defeated at the polls. Only then will we have a genuine where the views and beliefs are respected.
—Joseph M Dias, via email 

Sugar sycophancy
This is with reference to ‘A bitter pill’ (DNA, February 9). In an obvious effort to dilute the criticism directed towards the Union minister for Agriculture and NCP chief Sharad Pawar for increasing sugar prices, an editorial in Rashtravadi’, the mouthpiece of NCP unwittingly put its foot in the mouth. It says “No one dies due to not eating sugar. On the other hand, by eating items made from sugar diabetes increases”. One should not be surprised if the next editorial praises the benefits of consuming alcohol as there is a proposal to make alcohol from grains like jowar, bajra and maize. It would shut out the likely future criticism, since such a move is bound to increase the prices of these grains.
—CS Pathak, Pune

Thackeray’s clout
Sharad Pawar’s visit to Matoshree is really baffling  (‘Pawar fails to sway Thackeray, for now’, DNA, February 8) . With the Shiv Sena chief conceding Pakistan’s participation, Pawar’s meeting appears unnecessary. However, a sceptical view is that Congress has little to cavil over the NCP chief’s political rendezvous with Thackeray. The Congress-NCP combine has benefited from the warring cousins’ claim for the allegiance of Marathi manoos. To sustain this advantage it is imperative that the balance of strength between both the Senas is maintained. Pawar’s visit will certainly restore the status quo and continue the political advantage to both Congress as well as the NCP.
—Anil P Bagarka, via email

Disappointing performance
The performance of Team India in the first Test match against South Africa has been disappointing. It is clear that the team has lost  temperament for Test matches, perhaps owing to too many ODIs and T20 matches. Further, there is no suitable replacement for seasoned Test players like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. The team and the coach must introspect before the second Test.
—JN Mahanty, Puri