— S.N. Kabra Mumbai

Rostrum rhetoric

• Omar Abdullah, in his stirring speech in favour of the trust vote, has ably articulated the sentiments of progressive Indian Muslims who want to be in the mainstream. I have a word of advice for Omar about the management of the political party that he heads. Time and circumstances have changed significantly. Unfortunately the management style of the party remains feudal, with no effort being made to develop new leaders. Omar should publicly state that he and his father will develop a new crop of leadership in the party. Only then will he gain credibility with the people of Kashmir and be seen as genuinely working for them. Else, the rhetoric is hollow.

— Kapil Kaul Gurgaon

Trauma centre

• The trauma of democracy unfolded on Tuesday in its Indian temple — where the corrupt priests, ranting and raving, gave us another low in our parliamentary history. The wads of notes taken out of bags in the sanctum sanctorum have sent shock waves across all the sections of Indian society. It is a shame for us Indians that these, the scum of society, are our representatives.

— Tituraj Kashyap Das

New Delhi

• After an unparalleled and vociferous ruckus, the UPA has finally won the trust vote considerably. Strangely enough, the state of affairs prevailing in the largest democracy of the world is dismal. Though the current governing dispensation of India has won, the Parliament of India has lost. It has lost all its reliability and sanctity, thanks to its members.

— Gulam Jeelani

Aligarh

Coalition’s gift

• In this era of coalition politics, it was expected from the beginning that there would be such wheeling and dealing, but what we saw on Monday and Tuesday in the Parliament made one wince. We ought to be ashamed that we’ve elected such representatives to our parliament. Are these lunk-heads going to secure for us our rightful place in the world?

— Vidhu Rajpal

Delhi