Hold your fire

The Indian Express • The Bush administration should have concentrated on providing relief instead of decrying Myanmar’s junta. The junta is tyrannical. But when thousands have died in a catastrophe, and many more lives hang in the balance, the time is not right to make a regime, already paranoid about the outside world, even more suspicious of intervention —especially since the West is trying to push relief workers and supplies into Myanmar. Any criticism of the regime must wait till the country is back on its feet. Once the disaster had already occurred, it was pointless to focus on whether the Government had issued adequate warning. Given the junta’s reluctance and secrecy, US rhetoric is only going to antagonise it further.

— Mohd. Salahuddin

Mumbai

Easy targets

• It is shocking that investigation agencies and politicians point the finger of suspicion at Islamist militant groups before they even begin a proper investigation. Is it not possible that others, such as the Naxalites or right-wing Hindu outfits, were behind the Jaipur carnage? While such speculation is expected from the prejudiced Indian politicians and media, the investigation agencies should refrain from making such irresponsible statements. They have no facts to support these but only the dubious pretext of an “established pattern” to these blasts.

— Sandeep Ghiya

Mumbai

Cynics Inc.

• In a knee-jerk reaction to the Jaipur mayhem, the BJP has blamed the “weak policies” of the Union government for the tragedy. That the blasts occurred in a BJP-ruled state did not bother the party, and that the state government’s responsibility is just as much has been conveniently forgotten. The BJP should have realised that incidents such as these require the country, its people and its political parties to stand united. Our politicians should learn from the simple but enlightened man on the street as to how one deals with a national crisis.

— Anil P. Bagarka

Mumbai

English to the rescue

• This refers to Kumar Ketkar’s ‘Uncle, nephew, people’. Ketkar has made an insightful analysis of Maharashtrian politics and of the language and culture equations. If the state’s political leaders are concerned about the welfare of the “Marathi manoos”, they should work at improving their lot instead of targeting other communities. They could teach English to people unable to afford English medium schools, thus empowering them to find better employment. And learning English needn’t be at the cost of the Marathi tongue.

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Hold your fire

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