This refers to the article “The challenges of direct democracy” (July 7) by Shyam Ponappa. What spirit of compromise is the author talking about when we are dealing with a government that has been continuously indulging in stonewalling? Does Ponappa think that corrupt politicians like Raja, Maran, Kalmadi et al would have ever compromised and listened to polite entreaties to correct themselves? Has this government shown any remorse or even recognised the enormity of its errors and shown any real will to reform? It seems that the author expects the people to make all the compromises.
The fact is that this government has resisted taking the most basic and obvious steps to check corruption. The 2G spectrum and the Krishna-Godavari basin scams point to apathy among the leaders of this government in dealing with this issue. In the case of the Commonwealth Games, the government literally had to be pushed to probe the misuse of funds. Can we cite a single proactive measure taken by this government to address corruption? So what faith can we expect the people to have in this government?
Rohit, Kolkata
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