Letters from Readers
Freddie Mercury and I attended the same school in India
I enjoyed reading the article on Freddie Mercury in the May issue of Khabar (“Legends: Freddie Mercury’s Musical Rhapsody”). He was an outstanding rock singer of Indian origin. I think he is one of only two persons of Indian origin (the first being Mahatma Gandhi) on whom Hollywood has made a biographical film.
Freddie—Farukh Bulsara—was an alumnus of St. Peter’s School in Panchgani, India, where I studied too. He was a year senior to me. I am attaching his picture (from 1961-62) where he appears as part of our school rock band (Hectics)! He is in the middle.
Mohan Kapur
by email
Tagore’s poetry deserves wider appreciation
I read the Khabar article in the May issue (“Cover Story: The Towering Tagore”) with interest. I found it was well-written and covered many aspects of this multifaceted genius. My impression is that non- Bengali Indians are not well-versed with Tagore’s works, and consequently, he is not well-appreciated by them. This article, therefore, could serve an important purpose in that regard, albeit on a rather limited scale.
I do want to point out, though, that the article has not alluded much to Tagore’s poetry. To me, Tagore was first and foremost a poet. In fact, Nirad C. Chaudhuri thought he was India’s greatest poet. Niradbabu says so in his Thy Hand, Great Anarch! India: 1921-1952, even going to the extent of saying that he was greater than Kalidasa. Could this omission on the part of the author be a reflection of insufficient translations (and publicity) of Tagore’s poems into English and other Indian languages?
Partha Sircar
by email
Indian democracy is NOT in detention
It’s not surprising that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, a member of the opposition party, has been criticizing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Modi. His latest assertion in the May issue of Khabar on the danger to democracy (“Commentary: India’s Democracy in Detention”) following the conviction of Rahul Gandhi, Congress Party leader and MP, for defaming a community by calling them “thieves,” and his subsequent removal from the Parliament, as per rules, is in line with what the opposing party does. If he looks at his party’s history, he may have to rethink the strength of Indian democracy, which survived the worst assault by his own party.
In 1975, when the Allahabad High Court convicted the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Congress Party) of electoral malpractice, which would have disqualified her from holding an elected position for six years, Indira Gandhi declared a national Emergency. The Parliament, under the control of the Congress Party, ratified it; and President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed it citing “internal disturbances.” The fundamental rights of citizens were suspended, people were detained without any reason, civil rights were violated, and government employees and university professors were fired without any hearing. It lasted nearly two years, after which Mrs. Gandhi called for a special election. The Congress Party lost the majority, and Morarji Desai of the Janata Party became Prime Minister. Two years later, at the next regular election, the Congress Party gained the majority again. Mrs. Gandhi became Prime Minister and served until her assassination in 1984 by her own bodyguards.
In spite of Mrs. Gandhi’s actions, democracy prevailed and has remained strong during the entire 75 years of independent India. During the last election, Rahul Gandhi, grandson of Mrs. Gandhi, lost his reelection bid from Amethi (U.P.), the constituency which has been a solid Nehru-Gandhi foothold. He did win from Kerala and remains an MP. In keeping with the Nehru-Gandhi dynastic tradition, he is the leader of the Congress Party. He has been campaigning vigorously with the usual divisive rhetoric of his party. To split the support of Hindus from the BJP, Rahul Gandhi has been repeating at his campaign rallies: “I am a Hindu.”
While visiting other countries, he has even made disparaging comments about his own country. It seems that they believe making disparaging comments about India will damage Modi’s reputation. When External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar expressed outrage over protestors in the U.K.—for insulting the Indian flag—Dr. Tharoor said, “Jaishankar should not be that thin-skinned.” It seems Tharoor, in his mind, associates insulting the Indian flag equivalent to insulting Modi. Hence, an insult to the national flag did not bother him.
I hope Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor realize that being members of the opposition does not mean losing pride in their country and its flag.
Surendra Nath Pandey, PhD
by email
Rahul Gandhi’s wound is self-inflicted
I am from Bengaluru, India, and I have been visiting my niece in Atlanta. I happened to go through the May issue of Khabar magazine and was quite impressed with the contents and the wide range of topics covered.
I went through the article by Shashi Tharoor (“Commentary: India’ Democracy in Detention”), and frankly, I was amused to read about democracy from a Congressman. He seems to have forgotten about the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi during 1975-77.
While Tharoor has given his opinion on Rahul’s case, he has failed to mention that it was the Supreme Court of India that passed an order that if any elected representative is convicted in a defamation case for two years, then they will lose their seat and will not be eligible to contest for six years.
The story gets interesting as Congress was in power when the Supreme Court passed this order and they brought in an amendment by way of an ordinance in March 2013 which overruled the Supreme Court’s orders and modified the punishment to the elected representatives. But it was Rahul Gandhi who tore the ordinance in front of the Parliament, and subsequently, it was dropped by his party.
As it turns out, ironically, it is Rahul Gandhi who has been affected by his own act.
Vijay Kumar
Suwanee, GA
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