Smriti Irani’s speech: ‘Why is Scroll against a woman who is fighting with gusto?’

The angry minister

Why are you against a woman fighting with gusto (“Smriti Irani ko gussa kyun aata hai?”)? Smriti Irani was unnecessarily targeted and made to eat humble pie when some untoward incident happened in distant Hyderabad. She speaks her mind, and the male libido is not willing to accept her guts. Things are made to look ugly in her ministry but she will survive the litmus test. Politics is only for the souls who can rough it out, not for the weak-kneed. – G Natesh

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Smriti Irani is finally getting accolades for her histrionics, something that didn’t happen when she was a soap opera actress. Gullible citizens of the country are watching her well-scripted, well-rehearsed performances with bated breath. But gift of the gab is no excuse for non-performance. – Vikash C Mishra

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Your post on Smriti Irani was a one-sided depiction of her image. Readers are interested in an unbiased analysis of events. – Swati

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I read with interest the article by Anita Katyal on the “theatrics”. The entire media is agog and is heaping kudos on Smriti Irani for the manner in which she single-handedly silenced her detractors and the Opposition, so much so that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, perhaps expecting that they would be unequal to her challenge, chose to remain absent.

Anita Katyal’s article is unfortunately not appreciative of the combative style of Irani, while almost all the TV channels and the people at large have been appreciative. – Nitin Gokarn

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Smriti Irani has degraded and desecrated Parliament with her theatrics and drama. She looked more like a hoodlum than a minister.

It is this habit of telling lies with style that people should be wary of. Hitler swayed a whole country into war in this manner.

People should realise that these individuals are slowly but surely dividing the country they love and claim they will die for. Shouldn’t these patriots enlist in the armed forces? What better way to show their zealous love?

Please spare us and the country from such cowards and bigots. – Sylvia D’Souza

Complex Kashmir

I partly agree with the article, given the perspective you are looking at (“Dear Ravish, you brilliantly made visible the darkness on TV – but you got one detail wrong”). However, it’s important to parse issues like Kashmir holistically. The fact is it’s much more political than anything else. Islam will definitely crop up for obvious reasons. And we have tried to fix it cosmetically umpteen times and you know the results. In a country where RSS activists openly parade people on the other side with saffron flags and chants, the same is likely to happen on the other side. – Mastufa Ahmed

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The author of this article has again mixed up Islam with people who claim to follow it. It’s like painting the whole of JNU black because of some people raising some slogans.

Holy cries have always been misused. “Har Har Mahadev!” is the gong that usually starts a communal riot. This does not take away the beauty of this cry from those who understand its real meaning. The RSS doesn’t represent Hinduism – far from it.

Mixing the name of a religion with political activities is actually crafty mischief and the author has subtlety indulged in it. – Sajid Mahmood

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Religion is important to most in the subcontinent and politics cannot ignore that fact. The writers of this article are entitled to their opinions but they may want to remember that their accusations can very easily be turned back on them.

Perhaps they would like to respond pre-emptively to the charge that their own refusal to join the azadi movement is also fuelled by their own religious sympathies. If it is acceptable for a Kashmiri Hindu to identify with India on primarily religious grounds, then what is wrong with a Kashmiri Muslim’s invocation of Islam in what they see as a struggle for freedom?

I am not holding my breath, but maybe the two authors will see wisdom and realise that hurling such accusations – no matter how cleverly articulated - is not the way to go. All it will lead to is counter accusations, bitterness and the ties which link the Kashmiri Muslim and Hindu will be broken irretrievably. There must be a better way, but it is for the Kashmiris to find it. – M Suresh

Hindi's dominance

This opinion piece by Garga Chatterjee has a major flaw (“Why imposing Hindi on all is as bad an idea as insisting that India is a Hindu country”). The imposition of Hindi on all of India’s population would be wrong. However, that does not necessarily mean insisting that India is a Hindu country.

The fact of the matter is that Hindi is their mother tongue of almost 40% of the Indian population. The imposition of Hindi on all of India would be like giving preference to the most popular language of India.

Compare that with 1948 Pakistan, where 56% of the population had Bengali as their mother tongue, and the language (Urdu) that the ruling elite wanted to impose on the country was the mother tongue of only 8% of the population.

If we are to accept that a country needs a national language, Hindi is the right choice for India, and Bengali would have been the right choice for Pakistan in 1948. Urdu was an obviously unfair imposition on Pakistan then. Of course, any post-colonial nation would have a tendency to reject the language of the colonial rulers to be its national language.

It is too simplistic, if not dishonest political correctness, to suggest that imposition of Urdu on Pakistan and that of Hindi on India are both for imposing religion on the respective nations. – Sukhamaya Bain

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In India, there is suppression of those whose mother tongue is not Hindi. The language has been forced on the people. Other languages cannot progress as millions of rupees are wasted on Hindi. – BR

Rebooting the Railways

I am a regular patron of the Indian Railways (“The bullet train syndrome perpetuates an elitist approach to the Indian Railways”). Presently we may not need bullet trains, but 90% of our so-called Super Fast Express trains are running at around 50-60-km per hour, even today.

Previously, the journey in upper class was pleasant, but now it is like a fish market. Sometimes it’s horrible to even enter the lavatories.

In air-conditioned coaches, there is no display showing the current location of the train. The system of wake-up calls in the early hours has been totally abandoned by the Railways.

Before taking a big leap, think of small improvements required. The coaches designed almost 50 years back are still continuing with the same materials and pattern. Before thinking very big, do small things and provide small comforts for the public. – Rongala Chella Rao

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You seem to sympathise with the average traveller. I have noticed that unreserved average travellers are mostly to blame for a lot of irregularities in the Railways, even the delays. Did you never hear of chain pulling? Don’t blame the government for everything.

The flashing board at stations may not work, but the average passenger in India can use WhatsApp. So why can’t he check the train’s status online?

Internet booking and SMS are not privileges but necessities. Do you want everyone to stand in the queue to book a ticket? Do you want taxpayers’ money to be wasted on the salaries of the clerks to book tickets?

You have to understand that maintaining a server is cheaper than hiring a clerk for booking a ticket. Booking a ticket at the counter should not be cheaper than booking online, simply because it would cost more to the government, But the Indian government is still following archaic rules.

If you book online, you do the job of clerk yourself and the agency saves money, thus making the whole process cheaper.

Also, the photograph accompanying your article shows how much luggage people carry with them and is way beyond the permissible limits. So blaming the government is not always fair. – A Khats

Power dynamics

I think the authors (are they economists?) of this article are barking up the wrong tree (“Electricity subsidies for poor are stolen by the rich”).

The problem is not with misdirected “subsidies” but with well-directed corruption, mismanagement and inefficiencies in the power sector, not to mention incompetence of utility officials, engineers and regulators.

Power supplied to the “well-off” is not cheap despite the so-called subsidies the authors claim they get. In no part of the world – except perhaps in other mismanaged utilities – are the transmission losses, leakages, outdated technology as much a problem as they are in India.

Poor forecasting and planning by “experts” in the past, and lack of knowledge/funds to upgrade technology are other reasons for the high cost of production, transmission and distribution of electricity in India.

Power ministers in many states are not even high school graduates, but have to understand the complex technical and financial architecture of this complex, essential utility. Enlightened leadership and honest direction borne from a grasp of the subject is lacking.

That is the real problem, and that is why the rich and the poor are both paying through their noses for an essential utility. – Nanda Aiama

False impression

I wonder where Omair Ahmed got his information or the impression that India is treated with contempt globally (“Modi government is flailing on all fronts – but the larger tragedy is the clueless opposition”). The fact that British Prime Minister David Cameron chose not only to provide a warm welcome but also accompanied Narendra Modi to the Wembley stadium reception does not sound like contempt to me. Ahmed seems to create an impression that India had a much better and stronger image during the reign of the Congress-led government, which is definitely far from true.

No doubt the promised or rather expected changes on the domestic front have not happened. Admittedly, some of Modi’s lieutenants have, from time to time, erred in their judgement, giving rise to some embarrassment. But these lapses are nothing when compared to scope and extent of corruption and mismanagement during the reign of the earlier government.

Surprisingly, Ahmed makes no mention of several issues like the Rohith Vemula suicide or the JNU matter, which had their genesis during the previous regime but are being bandied about as creations of the current government. – Vijay Modi

Bravery in adversity

Your article on Soni Sori is a heart touching story of brutality, misuse of power, a corrupt system as well as courage, will power, humanity, service to mankind, inner strength, and nationalism (“Why is Chhattisgarh Police afraid of Soni Sori?”). I salute Soni Sori and wish her speedy recovery. Thank you for bringing such incidents into the public domain. Why are such incidents not highlighted by the media as a whole? – Madhu Kumar Saraf

Nitpicking public

I wonder why lots of Indians seem to pick on the tiniest thing about the government or public figures (“The Daily Fix: How much freedom of speech does Parliament allow our MPs?”). Do these people have nothing else to do? I find that politicians seem to seek publicity for the slightest and most irrelevant points.

The saying about “too much democracy” seems to be true of India today.

Frivolous cases seem to take up the courts’ valuable time. I wonder how courts find time to deal with real cases. No wonder then that even murder cases seem to take years, by which time the judges and witnesses are probably dead. – Roy Parekh