Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Diversionary tactic

Sir, — Your report (March 16) did not mention important portions of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's speech on the motion of thanks to the President for his Address in Parliament. I refer particularly to the part that dealt with the budget and labour policy. If you had published it, it would have sounded like a speech against all that Mr. Antony is doing in Kerala. How could she raise such a criticism against the present Government's economic and labour policies when it was a continuation of what the Congress Government had initiated under the leadership of Manmohan Singh and what her proteges in the State Governments continue to carry out with great faithfulness.

If Ms. Gandhi knew a little bit of the history of `shilanyas', she would know that it was her husband, the late Rajiv Gandhi, who permitted it at the present disputed site in 1989 and spoke about `Ram rajya', to the dismay of secular-minded people.

Essentially, the economic agenda of the Congress and the BJP are the same. While people fight for a `mandir' and a `masjid', the economic agenda will be continued unhindered. Communalism is only a diversionary tactic to prevent any consolidation of forces on economic or class lines. If the Left realised this the earlier, the better the fate of our country would be.

Rev. Thomas John,

Aluva, Kerala

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