Intolerance will not help any religion
Sir, To buy peace, Indian government has yielded to the pressures of intolerance. It is preposterous to ask a reformist writer like Taslima Nasreen to remove some portion in her book which some people consider objectionable. The writer had to yield only to satisfy the government that has given her asylum. I don’t blame either the Indian government or the writer but the hard core fundamentalists who have been hounding Taslima who dared to write about certain lapses in religion.
It is very rare that a Muslim woman writes, especially on religion. In the Hindu community also there are umpteen writers belonging to umpteen parties censuring Hindu religion, its outmoded practices and its leaders but no one compels them to alter, abrogate or edit any portions in Hindu literature that they consider offensive. Because Hindu religion also grows as the opposition to the religion grows. The present situation is not conducive for any healthy change in any religion.
V E Venkataramani
Bangalore

Frankenstein monster
Sir, The Act fixing the age limit of the AIIMS Director, recently passed by Parliament, is a long overdue one. A premier medical institution like the AIIMS had misused its autonomy and had become a Frankenstein monster which had defied its own creator and went on a collision course with it.
The ex-director Venugopal was indicted by the Thorat Commission of instigating the anti-OBC quota stir of its students on the campus. This is the consequence of granting too much freedom to an institution in the name of autonomy.
S A Nasser Khan
Chennai

His own fault
Sir, P Venugopal, former Director of AIIMS had brought upon himself the Act fixing the age limit of AIIMS Directors. He should have accepted the fact that the government alone is accountable to the people and not he or an autonomous institute like AIIMS.
That being so, he should have fallen in line with the government’s scheme of things for the welfare of the masses and not rebelled against it. His treatment of the Scheduled Caste students gave rise to many complaints of discrimination from them to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. His sacking was long overdue.
Sheriff Ashik Mohideen
Chennai

Internal matter
Sir, The concern raised by our Prime Minister and other leaders regarding the recent political unrest in Malaysia, is uncalled for and is like the  pot calling the kettle black. As a frequent visitor to Malaysia and with many Indian friends who are settled there for generations, I can say that the opportunities that they have, the liberty that they enjoy and their economic conditions are far better than their brethren in our country. The reservation policy for the Bhoomi Putra is nothing different than the reservation policy that we have to ensure balanced development of society.
Siddiq Ahmed
Bangalore

Learn from history
Sir, Malaysia may brush aside Indian Government’s protest as an internal matter. But they do not realise that Sri Lanka did the same thing about 25 years ago and it led to the present conflict with LTTE. Internal conflicts involving millions of citizens cannot be purely internal matters. If it is so then, the world leaders and the UN would not have involved themselves in former Yugoslavia and stopped the genocide and also at present in Sudan and Dafur. It is only the world pressure that removed apartheid in South Africa. Malaysia should learn from history.
P S Prabhu
Bangalore

Bank mergers
Sir, The strike call given by the employees of subsidiaries of State Bank of India (SBI) is totally unwarranted at this stage. The merger of these subsidiaries with the parent SBI will benefit the employees of all the subsidiary banks. Moreover the Indian nationalised Banks should prepare now to have the size, scale and financial muscle to  face the impact of globalisation and face the fierce competition from the gigantic foreign banks from April-2009 onwards. Hence the mergers are inevitable.
P S Shetty
Mangalore