Letters: Shades of opinion

Apropos the editorial "'Are you serious?'" (April 22), it is unfair to reject the "suit boot ki sarkar" criticism by quoting past sins of the Congress regimes. That's history. Let's move on to the here and now.

It is true that the past sins brought them down. But Congressmen have not forsaken their right to fault the current regime, have they? Therefore, saying "the most corrupt government in Indian history", "that was in bed with every crony capitalist you could find" is simply letting off steam without heeding the substance of the criticism - this government is helping businessmen to the detriment of the interests of kisans, as pointed out by Rahul Gandhi.

That the regime is business-friendly is publicly orchestrated by the ruling elite itself, both here and abroad, so the "suit boot ki sarkar" criticism should not hurt. Yet if it does, it's only a tacit admission of its failure to perceive the distress signals emanating from other quarters that built up this perception in the first place. While unseasonal rain and hailstorms destroyed crops and yields, the government obdurately plodded with piloting a land Bill to ease acquiring land for corporates, not relief for crop losses.

If in the past, Congressmen acquired land for "gratis", then at least Gandhi should be credited for forcing his government into bringing the land Act of 2013, which gives both consent rights and adequate compensation. It is unfair to give credit with one hand and take it away with the other, if agricultural production was higher during the United Progressive Alliance regime it was higher, that's all.

Every shade of opinion has a grain of embedded truth. If business friendliness is the ideological stance of the Narendra Modi sarkar, then it would be well advised to openly meritorise its learnings instead of countering the 'suit boot' appellation by invoking past "misdeeds" of the Congress. It's the National Democratic Alliance that is in power, not the Congress.

A R Mishra Mumbai

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