Praise and politics
It is immensely gratifying that leaders sitting at the opposite ends of the political aisle have had a good working relationship in a political environment characterised by rancour and uncompromising hostility to opponents (Inside pages, February 10). The Prime Minister’s emotional farewell to Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, during which he gratefully recalled the latter’s help during a terror attack in Kashmir, comes as a whiff of fresh air.
One recalls Opposition leaders in the past such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madhu Limaye who had a personal rapport with late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, despite their trenchant opposition to the Congress government.
One hopes that personal tolerance and mutual respect between political adversaries would translate into building a political culture where consensus-building gets prioritised over unrelenting hostility as a default behaviour.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
No privatisation
The move to privatise the Visakhapatnam steel plant, a Navaratna among public enterprises, is unfair. It is no white elephant but a golden goose which is starved. It has no own captive mines for supply of raw material. It has been on the path of expansion. It can be turned into a profit-making entity with a little help and political resolve.
Dr. D.V.G. Sankararao,
Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh
The Chennai Test
By ruthless execution, England mastered the Indians in every phase of the game, at Chennai’s Chepauk. The senior Indian batsmen disappointed. Despite his reputation in shorter formats, Rohit Sharma still struggles in Tests. The selectors have to take a hard decision on him since Mayank Agarwal, a more proven batsman, is waiting in the wings.
V. Subramanian,
Chennai
