Ever since the Tibetan protests and violence have erupted, the Indian government has been exhibiting extra deference to our neighbour’s susceptibilities. This is regrettable, given that the Chinese government summoned our ambassador in Beijing at 2 am, and then called the venerable Dalai Lama “a serial liar” and ignored his commitment to Tibet’s autonomous character within the fold of China. While China can afford to be ignorant of the nuances of democracy, India cannot continue to bow to every wish of its big neighbour.

Chinese masters

• You have rightly castigated the UPA government for its decision to cut the Olympic torch route so as to please its Left allies and their Chinese masters. “Call this independent foreign policy?” the editorial asks. Is it not yet another example of a weak-kneed government undermining itself?

When the capital’s security apparatus can ensure a huge Republic Day parade for many kilometres, can’t the regional super power secure the 33 km route of the Olympic torch? How can the possibility of the threat of peaceful protest by some Tibetans, a legitimate activity in a democracy, cause such a major change?

One can understand an authoritarian regime’s hypersensitivity to a peaceful protest, but why should a regime headed by the Congress, a party whose chief weapon during the freedom struggle was satyagraha, buckle like this? Why bend backwards to an aggressive, arrogant neighbour that doesn’t care about our sensitivities?

Democracy test

• In ‘The Obama effect’ Pratap Bhanu Mehta points out that a genuine leadership in a democracy should seek to inculcate reason and reciprocity. He aptly observes: “Our politicians are interested more in opportunistically using the currency of indignity and oppression than in overcoming it... The very simplistic manner in which they have dealt with the burden of caste has, in turn, produced a corrosive scepticism that makes any constructive conversation about caste impossible.” Whether we are a genuine democracy is debatable.

Suns of the soil

• Bal Thackeray must not miss the point that, in Tamil Nadu politics and Tamil movies, stars are more than closely linked (‘Role reversals’). The public man and the film star are not separate entities. Karmabhoomi and janmabhoomi have nothing to do with it. What is the contribution of the Shiv Sena to the karmabhoomi?

Collecting contributions, which they may well be using to their personal ends?