Opinion - Letters to the Editor

India's Le Pen

Sir, — Narendra Modi is India's answer to Jean Marie Le Pen. He employed the same tactics of religious intolerance and violence to emerge victorious. But the French have ensured that Mr. Le Pen does not win by storming the streets and fighting the ideology that is alien to France. The same thing needs to be done here. Mr. Modi's victory has sent wrong signals, it has emboldened the likes of Singhal and Togadia, to further the hate campaign and unleash terror. The future does not look bright for the country, with the `Gujarat experiment' proving to be a runaway success. Its replication in the States due for polls cannot be ruled out. The need of the hour is for people to rise to the occasion and recreate the `French phenomenon' in the States that go to the poll next year, driving home the point ``Gujarat was a flash in the pan''.

Madhu Chandra K,
Warangal, A.P.

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Sir, — The verdict in Gujarat is a telling example of the dynamics of `boomerang'. The media, both print and electronic, was overtly biased. It lambasted Narendra Modi and the BJP, lent all support to the Congress by making out that the election was a litmus test for secular India. If the ``communal forces'' won, the very fabric of Indian secularism will be shredded and completely destroyed, it cautioned. The Election Commission stretched out its extra vigilant antenna and Gujarat was put under a type of scrutiny never imposed on any State before. The people gave a resounding victory to the Modi government.

Why have the leaders and the media not accepted the verdict of the people of Gujarat in good faith? No, now it is ``revenge,'' ``this is an unfortunate victory,'' ``this will not happen anywhere else in the country'', etc. Who can say that the victory of the BJP in Gujarat will not be replicated in other States? To make it look that only the BJP is communal and the others are secular is a travesty of truth.

Hilda Raja,
Chennai

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