Ruthless sinner
I am glad that THE WEEK named and shamed Robert Clive. He is symbolic of all the misdeeds that happened during the British rule in India (‘Thug of Hindustan’, August 23). Clive will always be remembered as a ruthless military commander.
It feels great to know that there are many petitions seeking the removal of Clive’s statues in England. Such a move should have happened long ago. All said, Clive’s inheritors and family should not be victimised or harassed in any manner for all the sins that Clive committed in India.
Tapesh Nagpal,
On email.
Your cover story on the villainous hero of the Battle of Plassey made for an enjoyable read. Clive was instrumental in promoting colonial rule in India and he was looting personified.
Such a relook on the partly and purposely camouflaged history helps us to see the unvarnished truths of how our colonial masters bled us white.
Raveendranath A.,
On email.
As rightly said by
Philip Mathew, the cover story was an attempt to prevent a forgetting, and to highlight what Clive means to us as Indians. When we have not forgotten Timur or Adolf Hitler, why should we forget Clive?
P.M. Gopalan,
On email.
Your cover story on Clive was too good. It stood out from all other cover stories during the pandemic. I, especially, liked the cover painting of Clive, and other illustrations that went with the package.
Prince Solomon,
On email.
End the controversy
I agree with Meenakshi Lekhi that the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is the beginning of a harmonious phase (‘Forthwrite’, August 23). All controversies relating to the Ram Mandir should end henceforth. I hope that at an appropriate time a mosque will also be built in Ayodhya.
Ramesh Pandey,
On email.
Lekhi said the construction of the Ram Mandir is the logical result of the Supreme Court judgement. But, was the Supreme Court judgement logical? In its judgement, the apex court ruled that the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the 1949 desecration of the Babri Masjid were in violation of law.
The judgement for allowing construction of a temple at the disputed site was based on the report by the Archaeological Survey of India, submitted by the Allahabad High Court as “not an ordinary opinion”. The ASI report stated that there was a structure underneath the Babri Masjid, but it did not conclude that the said structure was a Ram temple.
Pankaj Kumar
Chatterjee, Kolkata.
Serious lapse
Something somewhere went terribly wrong at the Kozhikode airport, which led to the death of around 20 persons. Ideally, there should not have been any flight operation on that fateful day in Kozhikode when it was raining so much there.
This is a lapse on the part of the authorities (‘Heights of negligence’, August 23).
One cannot blame tabletop airports for such accidents. Wide-body aircraft should not be allowed to land from now on at any of the tabletop airports. Likewise, pilots should be specially trained for landing on tabletop airports.
Randeep Sharma,
On email.
The Kozhikode airport is one of the trickiest tabletop airports in the country. The clamour for more wide-bodied aircraft to be allowed to land at the airport from certain quarters is irrational, especially at a time when there are worries about the length of the runway.
All aspects must be carefully weighed and considered before a final decision is taken on what exactly led to this accident.
K.V. Raghuram,
On email.
Presidential system for India
Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘The perils of presidentialism’ (August 16) rings hollow, based as it is on some anecdotes rather than solid arguments. Shashi Tharoor cited proven benefits of the presidential system: people choose their leader directly, local governments are accountable, governments are more stable, legislatures are more effective, laws are smarter, people vote for individuals not parties, the president avoids legislative whim, he can appoint a talented cabinet and devote all energy to governance.Aiyar said US presidents often engage in pork-barrel politics, misusing agencies to keep legislators in line.
But he missed the point: their legislature is not a rubber-stamp, nor can it bring any government down. As for talented cabinet members, Aiyar cites some instances of the US failures. Would he concede the case after being presented with a much longer list of brilliant successes? He said Trump engages in politics rather than governance in managing Covid-19. But, surely, if he searched, Aiyar could find more than a few examples of presidents’ excellent governance in the past. Based on the presidential system’s structure—direct elections, genuine federalism, separation of powers—that system would work much better for us than our parliamentary setup.
Bhanu Dhamija,
On email.