Date:24/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/24/stories/2004092403151003.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Cultural nationalism?

Sir, — The vociferous protest against the Savarkar exclusive (Sept. 20 & 21) in the letters column reflects a section's affinity for the saffron forces. All these negative responses come presumably from the creamy layer, which seeks to retain its supremacy through cultural nationalism and its tools.

F.P. Robinson,
Cuddalore, T.N.

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Sir, — One hundred of the BJP's MPs, who so recently declined to waste their time debating the Finance Bill in Parliament, travelled to Port Blair to demand that the honour be restored of the material object which for them represents V.D. Savarkar.

Justice Jivanlal Kapur, who headed the Commission of Inquiry into the conspiracy to murder Mahatma Gandhi, said in his report: "All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group." How can the RSS-BJP possibly fail to beatify this heroic freedom fighter who freed them from none other than Gandhi, that arch enemy of their Hindu Rashtra?

Mukul Dube,
New Delhi

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Sir, — The second rung of the BJP's leadership needs to improve its stature by imbibing qualities such as broadmindedness. Instead, each of the leaders is revelling in political gimmicks. Attempts are being made to saffronise the Tricolour, politicise Savarkar, use mythology to insult opponents and divide society in the name of evaluating population growth.

S.R. Devaprakash,
Tumkur, Karnataka