Letters to the editor: Making Cong leaders gnash their teeth in rage

Making Cong leaders gnash their teeth in rage Manjul has excelled himself in his cartoon (April 30) showing how Congress party workers in Maharashtra are worried over the prospects of a rout of the party in the coming elections because Rahul Gandhi has now decided to  ‘concentrate’ on this state after the UP fiasco. Manjul’s stinging depiction of the miserable non-performance of the Congress leaders — day in and day out in his ‘Irregular’ — must be making them gnash their teeth with impotent rage. It used to be said of the Nazi war lord Adolf Hitler that he hated David Low, the renowned British  cartoonist, much more than he hated his political adversaries. This was because while his enemies were afraid of him, Low by his merciless satirising of the personality and the policies of the German dictator, had reduced him to a caricature laughed at by millions of his avid readers all over the world. I am sure the leaders of the Congress party must be entertaining some such pathological hatred towards your cartoonist for reducing them to pigmies that they are.  —Arun Chandra, MumbaiPreposterous move This has reference to ‘Sachin in RS is Cong’s dirtiest play’ (April 30). It is preposterous on the part of Congress to nominate maverick Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha. Article 80 of the Constitution very clearly mentions that a person who has special knowledge or has practical experience in the field of literature, art, science or social service, could only be nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Although we all have the highest regard for Sachin, he does not fit into this mandatory of Article 80. It is a populist move by the Congress to garner some mileage. Even without being an MP, Sachin is held in high esteem by one and all. He should shun political overture and stay away from it. —Jitendra Kothari, via e-mailIIThe field of sports is not a category stipulated as per Article 80 of our Constitution as being an eligibility criterion for nomination to the Rajya Sabha. The categories are only literature, science, art and social service. If Sachin’s nomination gets entangled in a legal battle, the alternate choice of a cricketer from Maharashtra would be ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar. He can be made eligible under the artist’s category by the virtue of his acting stints in two Marathi films. Unfortunately, his proximity to a Shiv Sena leader can be a deterrent for the UPA and this may negate his chance.  —Haridasan Mathilakath, Navi Mumbai

IIIThis has reference to ‘How Sachin should bat in Rajya Sabha’ (April 30). The system of nomination of celebrities in the Rajya Sabha must be scrapped and there should be a public debate on the justification of keeping the Rajya Sabha itself. The celebrities nominated as MPs take their job casually. They neither do any significant service to the cause of their field nor make any contribution in parliamentary debates. Tendulkar has not yet retired from cricket, which in itself is a full-time engagement by way of playing matches. As an MP, if he fulfills his obligation of being present in the House during sessions, it will take a toll on his cricket time. There will be occasions when the schedule of his matches will clash with sessions in the Parliament and he will have to skip the House. Thus, he would do justice neither to cricket nor to the Parliament. Becoming an MP is immaterial for a person who has broken all records of cricket, earned global recognition and respect and is identified as the ‘God’ of cricket. It is incomprehensible what made him accept the nomination. —MC Joshi, LucknowKing of clayRafael Nadal confirmed his status as the king of clay on Sunday when the he won his seventh Barcelona Open title defeating David Ferrer. World number two Nadal went from one history-making weekend to another after claiming an unprecedented eighth straight title a week ago in Monte Carlo where he beat world number one Novak Djokovic. Nadal and his friend Ferrer were playing their fourth final at the Real Club de Tenis, with Nadal winning all of them dating back to 2008. He now stands as the only man to win two different events at least seven times each. Nadal’s victory was his 34th in a row at Barcelona and this has improved his finals record on clay to 34-4. His only clay finals losses have come against Djokovic and Roger Federer, each beating him twice. The Barcelona triumph in front of 8,000 fans came exactly 10 years after the day when a 15-year-old Nadal made his debut on the ATP Tour in his native Mallorca. —CKS Ramani, MumbaiBackstabbing  I am at a complete loss of words to express my anguish at the recent bus fare hike by the BEST. The magnitude of the burden on the common man can be judged from the fact that a Rs7 ticket now costs Rs10 and a Rs16 ticket costs Rs26. The Shiv Sena-BJP combine has back stabbed the common man for having elected them to power in the recent civic elections. It was these two parties that had launched a scathing attack on Dinesh Trivedi, the former railway minister for proposing a hike in the railway fare. The MNS justifies the BEST fare hike citing a stupid excuse that the hike would benefit the ‘Maharashtrian’ staff in BEST, as though the entire hike of around 60 to 80 per cent is going to be utilised in salary revision of the staff. This party forgets that around 60 to 80 per cent of the commuters of BEST are Maharashtrians. The steep fare hike in BEST was immediately preceded by the steep fare hike in autorickshaw fares. I had stated in an earlier letter that the government would be considered to consist of a bunch of eunuchs if it allowed Sharad Rao to proceed with the statewide auto strike scheduled on April 16. But now, I must concede that the common man is an eunuch for taking all the beatings in the form of price and fare hikes and for being unable to revolt.—Shridhar Narain, via e-mail