SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA
ARCHIVES

How Readers reacted to Saisuresh Sivaswamy's last column

Date sent: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 10:34:14 -0700
From: Sameer <vidu1@prodigy.net>
Subject: Coalition worse confounded

You wrote: "If power corrupts, the prospect of power corrupts even more. And the first person to agree with this axiom would be Prime Minister A B Vajpayee who has tied himself into knots simply because his Tamil Nadu ally fancies her chances of hoisting the tricolour from Fort St George on August 15 this year. Her future has made his present miserable."

I recollect T V R Shenoy's comment that Mr Vajpayee and the BJP have done a favour to the nation by agreeing to the President's request to form a government. Coalitions are rocky, no matter what. They were rocky during the Janata regime, they were rocky during V P Singh's time, they were rocky when the Congress supported the UF, and they are bound to be rocky now.

But tell me one thing: The otherwise unruly, unethical and farcical parties who ruled this country after the last election, why are they not hyperactive? Why are they not monkeying around to take advantage of the situation? It's like they are caught in their own web. If you blame Amma for looting the nation, what about people like Sitaram Kesri who force an election on a poor nation, pull down a govt on Jain Commission, and then do not even make that a campaign issue? Is Jayalalitha worse than these political criminals who cost the exchequer Rs 12 billion?

So sir, please be kind to the present coalition. If the BJP government is brought down, there will not even be a government to talk of. At least, here a majority party is leading the government.

Sameer Kuppahalli

Date sent: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 12:25:25 -0700
From: "Ram Prasad Mantravadi (Hall Kinion)" <a-mvrp@microsoft.com>
Subject: Coalition worse confounded by Saisuresh Sivaswamy"

It is very true that yielding under pressure from the Jaya/Swamy coterie would give a hard blow to the tough image that BJP has built up. It would dash the hopes it has raised among the middle class as a decisive party. The kind of compromise that the party has made since the election results were declared only go to suggest that the BJP's ideology is only an ideology -- when it comes to action, it is not much different from other parties.

Thinking that by getting/remaining in power it can establish its base is a gross miscalculation. The BJP is largely voted by the orthodox Hindu middle class. I am one such and I strongly believe that what I feel about the BJP is what many others are feeling -- that is, maybe the BJP is just another Paper Tiger.

The BJP train was on a collision course right from the day it left the station with those assorted 18 bogies. Troubles from Amma or other outdated people like George Fernandes were always expected. That it still wanted a ride only mirrored the party in poor taste, as lacking conviction in what it said and promised. If it thinks a sudden coup d' etat is going to turn the tables and revert the party's ever-sliding image and performance, it is on a wrong track too. Becaue these cancers are going to stay until they get what they want.

It is better for the BJP if it gives a fitting reply to its obnoxious allies. It may lose their support, the government may fall. But at least it would show integrity which is missing in other parties. That will win it the support of the people.

Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 12:00:32 +0900
From: "Udaya Bhanu" <uday@telecom.samsung.co.kr>
Subject: Coalition worse confounded -- Saisuresh Sivaswamy

It looks like the writer is suffering from an obsession -- namely, trying to visualise every possible way the BJP government can collapse. His earlier articles were EXACTLY on the same lines. Is he running short of ideas? People like him give undue weight to Jayalalitha -- a corrupt individual putting the entire nation to shame with her brazen display -- and make her seem like a goddess. It is high time the author leaves the issue of "THROWING IN THE TOWEL" to Vajpayee and diverts his attention to more urgent needs of the country.

Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 00:58:29 -0700
From: "Ashutosh Barve, M.D." <abarv01@sac.uky.edu>
Subject: Coalition Worse Confounded

The article was very good. I see only one problem with it: Mr Sivaswamy says, "It all began with seemingly innocuous, and sometimes just, demands like implementing the Cauvery water tribunal's order or elevating more languages to the status of official language".

Is Mr Sivaswamy suggesting that the demand of elevating 18 languages as 'official' ones is a just demand? I don't even think it is innocuous. It will wreak havoc with the business of governance if it has to be conducted in 18 languages simultaneously. I am amazed and disappointed that Mr Sivaswamy does not see this.

Dr Ashutosh Barve

Saisuresh Sivaswamy