V-P candidate
The National Democratic Alliance’s choice of the West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, as its vice-presidential candidate appears to be ominous given his track record as the Governor of West Bengal where he quite often went beyond his constitutional obligations to bat for a national party.
In the scheme of our Republic, the post of Vice-President is not of much consequence. However, in his second post, as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Vice-President plays a key role in controlling the proceedings and can be helpful in smothering Opposition voices in the House. Was this a factor that weighed with the Bharatiya Janata Party?
Manohar Alembath,
Kannur, Kerala
It is clear that the Opposition has lost the plot once again as far as the vice-presidential election is concerned. All the parties under the Opposition umbrella cut a very sorry figure.
S. Venkataraman,
Hyderabad
Allegations and Gujarat
To say that Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel and Teesta Setalvad conspired to defame the country’s top leader and destabilise his government in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots might be stretching the truth too far. Seeking justice for the victims and punishment for the instigators and perpetrators cannot be defined or termed as a conspiracy. One can understand the attempts made, sometimes desperately, to absolve the top leader of any responsibility for the carnage. But implicating political rivals and human rights activists and shifting the blame onto them borders on the diabolical. It is hard to erase former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s counsel to observe raj dharma, or the duties of a ruler, and the judiciary’s observations in the context of the mass killings. The ruling party owes an explanation to the nation as to why it did not prosecute Ahmed Patel for the alleged conspiracy when he was alive, if the charge was not mischievous and manufactured.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
The Teesta Setalvad case is taking a curious turn. What is the intention of the SIT going forward? Does it want a fair probe or want to discredit the Congress party by any means so as to cover up the truth?
V. Padmanabhan,
Bengaluru
Prathap Pothen
Among many films Prathap Pothen starred in, what stand out are Moodu Pani, Nenjathai Killadey, Panneer Pushpangal and Varumayin Niram Sirappu. As Suhasini Maniratnam has brought out in her tribute, Prathap Pothen was more an underplayed actor than an underrated one. In his passing, the film world has lost a very natural actor.
K. Pradeep,
Chennai
Prathap Pothen was the unruffled person who always liked to wear a thinker’s cap. He outshone many of his blue-eyed fellow swashbuckler-heroes who went about acting in an artificial way. With his down-to-earth portrayals, he remained a cool reclusive cat in the rat race to superstardom that Tamil and Malayalam cinema witnessed in the 1980s.
M.R. Anand,
Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh
What a vibrant actor he was. He was a unique character actor. The evergreen super hit song, ‘Poovannam Pola Nenjam’, in the box-office hit, ‘Azhiyadha Kolangal’, will be cherished — Prathap Pothen and Shobha did justice to the roles. In a way, Prathap Pothen by himself will be remembered as an ‘Azhiyadha Kolangal’ to his fans.
A.P. Thiruvadi,
Chennai
New plant species
A new plant species has been discovered in Idukki district, Kerala, by botany researchers at St. Albert’s College (autonomous) Ernakulam, Kerala. The plant was identified at Chokramudi kudi in Bison Valley, Idukki, during a botanical expedition focusing on vascular epiphytes of the tropical montane cloud forests in the southern Western Ghats. This epiphytic plant belongs to the Piperaceae family (that comprises the pepper plant, betel leaves, etc.) which falls under the genus Peperomia. This plant has been named ‘ Peperomia albertiae’ to mark the discovery by the college.
The study report was published in the March edition of the Kew Bulletin of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, published by Springer.
Arjun Thomas,
J. Jameson,
Ernakulam, Kerala
