• It’s true that the wonderful “liberal principles” don’t quite apply to non-US citizens at immigration check. The issue is of concern given the history of US institutional racism. However, there’s also the case against the “VIP syndrome”, a typical trait of Indian celebrities. While Shah Rukh Khan is no babe in the woods, the attitude of immigration officials in the West, particularly the US, towards Asians deserves criticism. It’s ridiculous anyway to call Khan’s visible displeasure a publicity stunt.

— Shishir Sindekar

Nasik

Line of fire

• The BJP has been driven to the brink . However, Jaswant Singh’s expulsion over his book wasn’t unexpected, given the BJP’s words and actions of late. What did surprise and shock was the gracelessness with which the expulsion was carried out. Singh should have been allowed the privilege of an explanation. Most analysts have drawn parallels to L.K. Advani’s remarks on Jinnah during his 2005 visit to Pakistan and how he managed to get away with them. Advani was still indispensable to the BJP; but the party has changed much since. Electoral debacles and dissent have led to a serious hardening of the party line.

— N. Muralidhar

Chennai

Battle of histories

• The history of our Independence, like most histories, offers a multiplicity of perspective. However, after 1947, one dominant narrative was privileged over the rest and made our textbook history. The Congress, the Left and the BJP have all written their own histories and tried to universalise them. The Congress and the BJP have done it through the state apparatus, while the Left has done it through the academy. Now, both the Congress and Left discourses have been institutionally legitimised while the Right’s narrative has existed outside “academic respectability”. The academic responses to Jaswant Singh’s book result partly from this. Paradoxically, it’s Singh’s attempt to shift the rightist narrative towards the centre that has utterly confused the BJP itself.

... contd.