With reference to ‘Cong sticks to guns; to go it alone in Delhi’ (March 6), it sounds totally unbelievable to learn about the immediate reaction of the AAP’s chief and Delhi CM when he alleges that this ‘Party is in a secret pact with the BJP’.

Significantly, former Delhi chief minister and Congress’ Delhi unit president Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday announced that ‘her party will contest the seven Lok Sabha seat independently and emerge stronger’ despite the fact that other Opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Left have been asking the Congress to share seats with the AAP in States such as Delhi, Haryana and Punjab to consolidate votes against the BJP.

But why does the AAP need the Congress crutches to fight the BJP in Delhi?

Interestingly, Kejriwal also went ahead to claim that “Delhi is ready to fight against the Congress-BJP alliance. People will defeat this unholy alliance”.

So if the AAP had stitched an alliance with the Congress would it have automatically become holy? Let the AAP now swim alone across the high electoral tides and face the ever alive voters here during the next general elections.

SK Gupta

New Delhi

Protecting banks

With reference to he report “To prevent frauds, banks plan to appoint agencies to monitor large-value accounts” (March 6), a move to protect banks from wilful defaulters is indeed welcome.

The current NPAs of the various banks are huge and significant amounts might be irrecoverable. It is therefore necessary to monitor loans to ensure that they are utilised for the purpose it was granted for. It is also necessary that the panel be asked also to monitor the activities of persons who have defaulted huge loan amounts and to ascertain whether the defaulted amounts also could be received by examining the spending pattern of defaulters.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Nationalism: Poll issue?

It is now clear that the BJP is keen on making the upcoming Lok Sabha election all about ‘nationalism’ and not about ‘vikas’.

The catch phrases sabka saath, sabka vikas and achhe din are no more heard. With nothing tangible to show on the economic front, it is understandable that the ruling party is determined to go all out to fight the election on ‘nationalism’. The Pulwama attack and Indian air strikes at Balakot dovetail nicely into the ‘nationalism’ narrative. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches drip nationalist fervour and denounce the Opposition for ‘toeing the Pakistani line’. Sadly, it does not occur to the hyper-nationalists that a great nation cannot define itself purely in terms of another country, whatever be the compelling reasons. If truth becomes a casualty in the quest for ‘national glory’, it is no great deal for the Hindu nationalists. The fine line between ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’ does not matter to the Sangh Parivar.

It will be hard for BJP to sustain the ‘nationalist fervour’ till the election dates. Thankfully, we do not hear that more military action is in the offing. For all the hype, the impoverished masses may not be swayed to accept virulent nationalism propounded by the ruling dispensation.

They may see through the ploy of BJP to use ‘nationalism’ as a convenient means to eclipse the real bread-and-butter issues of politics. What the country needs is more doses of inclusive patriotism and not the skewed kind.

G David Milton

Maruthancode, (TN)

Polluted Indian cities

With reference to the news report ‘7 out of 10 most polluted cities are in India’ , reduction of vehicle use to curb pollution is being debated since a long time without any solution. More than strict rules, educating people on the hazards of pollutionthe right move. A good public transport system will go a long way in controlling pollution in cities. Besides government staff, who are given official vehicles, must be encouraged to use public transport. Delhi’s odd-even number scheme should be introduced on an experimental basis. NGOs, teachers, students and artistes should also be roped in to sensitise people on the benefits of using public transport.

Veena Shenoy

Thane

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