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Record for posterity

Your cover story on India’s participation and influence on the outcome of World War II was quite special (‘We were there, everywhere’, August 2).

 

R. Prasannan has played the role of a war correspondent, while reporting the events, one at a time, chronologically, for readers.

 

It is prudent to add here that the cover story should be recorded for posterity, as that will help young people in our country know much more about World War II.

 

The letter from the editor made a good read, and it was like a curtain-raiser to the whole issue.

 

P.M. Gopalan,

On email.

 

Kudos to you, Prasannan, for putting together an excellent cover story. Most Indians are unaware of the details about India’s role in the outcome of World War II, let alone remember the martyrs.

 

Our history books are bereft of valuable information that can inspire the young and old. Much of history is not in textbooks and in public knowledge.

 

The depicted legacy of what India was before Independence is much about the freedom struggle and the distorted accounts of the time.

 

I believe that your cover story and its valuable pictorial additions should become part of history curriculum, perhaps as a separate chapter. This will enlarge and correct the view of India and its proud countrymen in the pre-independence period, instead of depicting the distress alone.

 

Dr Prem Anand Nagaraja,

On email.

 

There seldom was a cover story in THE WEEK as elaborate and fact-laden as the one on 75 years after World War II, if memory serves me right.

 

Viewed from this distant time, the fallacy of the war gets more pronounced when Indians in the colonial army and Indians in the INA had to fight each other.

 

The silver lining for India, it seems, was that the war helped India create a shipshape defence force.

 

Raveendranath A.,

On email.

 

Get growing

India needs to free itself from the knots. Mere vision is of no use, if it is not accompanied by the will to undertake drastic reforms (‘Still the economy, stupid!’, August 2).

 

India has a large workforce that needs employment. What is the use of a plethora of laws that restrict rather than encourage new investments. So, simply scrap them.

 

Let ‘I’ in India denote infrastructure, ’N’ denote network, ‘D’ denote development, ‘I’ denote industry, and ‘A’ denote atmanirbharata.

 

If the size of our economy expands, we will be a force to reckon with.

 

Ashok Goswami,

Mumbai.

 

Good job

Hats off to the men from Andhra Pradesh for having excavated a temple (‘On a temple’s trail’, August 2). I am impressed by their perseverance. We need more enterprising people like them in our country.

 

I hope the temple regains all its lost glory and attracts visitors from all over the country.

 

Tapesh Nagpal,

On email.

 

Some action please

It seems that Rajasthan will not go the same way as Madhya Pradesh, and we can safely presume that the Congress’s high command would be chuffed at this outcome (‘Departure lounge’, July 26).

 

Sadly, being thus deluded into complacency, the central leadership of the Congress continues to live in its own ivory tower, while the grand old party gradually slips into oblivion.

 

The Congress needs more than an interim president in Sonia Gandhi and an indecisive leader in Rahul, who is awaiting an opportune time to pick up the reins once more. Till then, a rudderless Congress will remain on the high seas, buffeted by political churning, as in Rajasthan.

 

Vijai Pant,

On email.

 

Wait and watch

The likely return of Sasikala from prison this year or early next year should unnerve the present dispensation of the AIADMK, led by Edappadi Palaniswamy and O. Panneerselvam. She will become a thorn in the flesh for many if she were to resume her political career, which was cut short abruptly when she was imprisoned (‘Return game’, July 19).

 

A sizeable number of MLAs in Tamil Nadu owe their gratitude to Sasikala, as she wielded considerable influence within the party, even when J. Jayalalithaa was alive.

 

C.V. Aravind,

On email.

 

Even if Sasikala is released from jail, there is only a remote possibility of her entering politics. She knows that people of Tamil Nadu have no liking for her, and that some are angry at her because of the mystery surrounding the death of Jayalalithaa. Moreover, she will remain quiet and dance to the tunes of the BJP leaders, as her prime motto will be to save the wealth amassed by her.

 

Further, the present AIADMK government returning to power seems very unlikely. People of Tamil Nadu are fed up with it, and they are waiting for the elections to throw them out lock, stock and barrel.

 

Tharcius S. Fernando,

On email.