Maharashtra politics
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have developed unparalleled expertise in breaking and making State governments, according to its desires. In this light, the political events unfolding in Maharashtra are not totally unexpected; the Shiv Sena leadership ought to have sniffed out these moves at the very nascent stages (Page 1, “Uddhav Thackeray fights to keep control over Shiv Sena”, June 23). But what is puzzling is why the BJP has not been able to complete the ‘defection engineering’ job in Gujarat. That rain-hit Assam is also a part of the political game is startling. One hopes that the developments serve as a wake-up call to the Congress and NCP to safeguard their ‘vulnerable’ legislators.
A. Venkatasubramanian,
Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu
The rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership exposes the cracks in the Shiv Sena. The way Mr. Thackeray talked to rebels indicates that he does not seem to have much of a hold over the legislators. It is more to do with the growing influence of the BJP.
Prabhu Raj R.,
Bengaluru
The political crisis bears a striking resemblance to the sordid political episodes enacted by the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and the triggering of defections in the ruling dispensations in order to grab power. The writing is on the wall for the Shiv Sena-led MVA coalition. Dislodging elected governments by machinations does not augur well for our democracy.
M. Jeyaram,
Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu
The next President
Ms. Droupadi Murmu could well become the next President of India. At the same time, it is paramount that the country gets a new President who will act as per the Constitution and his/her conscience. One also hopes that if elected, Ms. Murmu takes up issues that relate to Adivasis and tribal people.
Tharcius S. Fernando,
Chennai
On Agnipath
The rolling out of the Agnipath scheme to recruit Agniveers for India’s defence forces has resulted in chaos. There are many youngsters who will not accept it. Perhaps it could have been introduced as a pilot project and expanded in stages with an adequate number of buffer years. It is too radical a step and should not impact the preparedness of our defence forces.
P.S. Rajagopalan,
Chennai
ED interrogation
It was amusing to read the report, “Neither scared nor threatened: Rahul” (Inside pages, June 23), which summarised the ‘grit’ of the Congress leader in his having ‘withstood’ the grilling by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED was only carrying out its assigned duty. As far as Mr. Gandhi is concerned, he should wait till the ED submits its findings and the courts decide on the processing after that.
Mani Natarajan,
Chennai
Mr. Rahul Gandhi does not seem to have risen from his mundanity. He needs to wait for the ‘results’ instead of going to town about his not being ‘scared nor threatened’ after the intense questioning.
Sanath Kumar T.S.,
Thrissur, Kerala
Tussle in the AIADMK
The intensifying infighting between Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam over the issue of ‘single leadership’ points to political danger — of another split in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. It is no surprise that the AIADMK has been on a slippery slope since the passing of Jayalalithaa. It seems to be more about individuals now than the party and its governance.
R. Sivakumar,
Chennai
Need for caution
As new COVID-19 daily cases begin to rise, it is unwise to be complacent; investigating how many new and sub-variants have been detected may be of greater interest to epidemiologists than the common man. It is time to act proactively before the situation goes out of control. Health measures must be put back in place.
V. Lakshmanan,
Tirupur, Tamil Nadu
