The fall of the Berlin Wall is history’s most dramatic and poignant act of a spontaneous surge by the people. The will of the people united East and West Germany. Thus it indicates that there is an innate goodness in us once we recognise that artificial barriers are created by rulers for their selfish ends. This anniversary has brought back memories of my visit in July 1990. As I travelled by car from West Berlin and crossed over to the East German city of Magdeburg, the contrast was stupefying. The contrast was marked by dilapidated flats and shoddy roads.

— H.R. B. Satyanarayana

Mysore

Hard knock

For those in government the easiest way to escape blame for failure is to shift it on to someone else. This is what the Congress did when it was in power in Madhya Pradesh. It routinely blamed the Centre — then ruled by the BJP-led NDA — for its failures on several fronts. One can see the BJP doing the same in MP now by blaming the Centre for its many failures in infrastructure, civic amenities, power outages, shortages and galloping prices. The truth is that once in power, political parties overlook their obligations to the people. But voters are now getting wiser, so the blame game may not work. The Congress learnt of its erring ways after losing MP; perhaps the BJP may too realise it the hard way.

— R.J. Khurana Bhopal

Across the spectrum

This refers to ‘Buddha minister says LF govt must quit, seek fresh mandate’ (IE, November 12). The general elections and the recent assembly by-polls in West Bengal and Kerala should serve as the writing on the wall for the Left. The Indian political spectrum embodies a broad range of views — left to right — and can serve as a sound ideological base for governance. Successes of various governments, of different ideological moorings, indicate the relevance of each view in the political atmosphere, especially given the nature of a pluralist country such as ours. Kerala’s performance on social welfare, the strides made by Gujarat under Modi and UPA’s resurgence at the Centre highlight a central theme — that when it comes to development and good governance ideological positioning need not matter.

... contd.