No distinction

No distinction
Your incisive analysis of the UPA government’s performance in the last four turbulent years was quite revealing (‘Without distinction’, DNA, May 22). The only significant achievement of prime minister Manmohan Singh during this period was that he made every one
believe that he was running the show. The truth was, his cabinet colleagues drawn from the various constituent units of the coalition were not taking orders from him and he was ‘holding on’ to his chair only because of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Never before in the history of
independent India has the government at the centre been so weak, allowing sundry regional parties to hold it to ransom on every major policy issue. Today all its tall claims lie in shambles, making it an object of ridicule.
—VVS Mani, Bangalore

Shaky ground
The rift between the two major coalition partners in Pakistan has been apparent since the government was formed. Murtaza Razvi in ‘More of the same’ (DNA, May 21) has explained the current situation lucidly. The rift is good news for all the cynics who had their apprehensions about the success of democracy in Pakistan. Whatever democracy the country has seen during the last 60 years of its existence has only contributed to make its position more precarious. Historically, both the PPP and PML(N) have thrived on each other’s failure and neither democracy nor Benazir’s death can prove to be a binding force in the long run.
—Shubhomoy Sikdar, via email

Hunger strikes
This is in reference to ‘Unfit for rotis, good enough for bakeries’ (DNA, May 21), where the government has allegedly invited tenders to sell the imported red wheat at a 50 per cent discount to the bakeries in the city. Why is the imported red wheat unfit for human consumption sold to the bakeries so that it comes back for human consumption? My thanks to Kirit Somaiya, the BJP leader who is pursuing this issue. What a waste of money and food where millions are dying of hunger.
—Kamal Anil Kapadia, Mumbai

Saving the nation
Many of your articles and comment pieces about the artist MF Husain, which were carried after the Delhi High Court judgment of May 8 dropping three obscenity charges against him, have mentioned the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti without getting any reaction from us. You have hurt the sentiments of Hindus with your support and glorification of MF Husain and abused Hindutva bodies that are protecting dharma and saving the nation.
—Shivaji Vatkay, for Hindu Janjagruti Samiti