Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Headcount in Army

This refers to the petition of the former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. R.S. Kadyan, who has moved the Supreme Court for a direction to the Centre exempting the armed forces from providing information to the Rajinder Sachar Committee. Why should defence forces alone be exempted? Is it enough if they alone are secular? His argument that the enumeration will amount to discrimination and treatment of Muslims as a separate class is equally applicable to other government departments.

P.R.V. Raja,
Pandalam, Kerala

* * *

Without knowing the exact position of a community, no strategy can be evolved for its development. If India wants to be a superpower by 2020, it cannot ignore 15 per cent of its population.

A.S.M. Soyeb,
Aligarh, U.P.

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The article "Muslims and the Indian Army" (Feb. 20) argues that we should be confident of our collective secular beliefs. Ordinary Indians have sufficient faith in their philosophy of religious tolerance but not in the politicians' brand of secularism. Unfortunately over the years, secularism has degenerated into a vote-catching tactic rather than a principled commitment. And for the same reason, the motives of the Sachar Committee and the UPA Government that appointed it are highly suspect. Again, the argument that the lack of information perpetuates myths about appeasement of Muslims is unconvincing. It is the double standards of the Government that is more responsible for the perception that Muslims are being appeased.

Avuthu Srihari,
Secunderabad

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If the percentage of Muslims is low in the armed forces, it is because they have not volunteered for the job. So many have contested elections successfully and become MPs and MLAs though no religious quota exists for these positions. The Army too is a voluntary service and religion has no role in selection or promotion.

O. Balakrishnan Nair,
Vellinazhi, Kerala

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I wonder why we fought for Independence in the first place if we wanted to continue with the divide and rule policy. After all we had a more efficient system in place on the same lines!

The Government should come out of its divisive mindset and think Indian first, Indian last for India's sake.

Koti Sreekrishna,
Mason, Ohio

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For any country to develop, the condition of its minorities must improve. As Lani Guinier of the Harvard Law School has pointed out, the best barometer to judge the health of a society is to look at the condition of its minorities who are like the coal miners' canary... the first to notice toxic gases in coal mines.

Syed Tahseen Raza,
Aligarh, U.P.

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Secularism and democracy are meaningless if Muslims are deprived of economic and educational participation. The essence of democracy is social justice and without reservation for Muslims, social justice cannot be achieved.

A.M. Meeral,
Chennai

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