Anyone aware of Ashis Nandy’s distinguished record as a brilliant liberal thinker would know that his sympathies have always been for those who have been unable to represent their interests in public forums. It is obvious that his views expressed in the Jaipur Literature Festival have been misunderstood and misrepresented.
Quite contrary of what Prof. Nandy is being accused of, it appears that he was trying to draw attention, once again in his own fashion, to the unfairness and the double standards in the perception of corruption between the rich and the poor, between the elite and the oppressed. The attack against one of India’s great original thinkers with an international following is totally uncalled for.
Nur Yalman,Cambridge
What Prof. Nandy tried to say was, to quote Oliver Goldsmith, “laws grind the poor and rich men rule the law.”
It is quite clear that he was only sympathising with the downtrodden — saying they suffer when they get caught for corruption while the elite who indulge in corruption escape with their influential networks.
S. Elangovan,Kancheepuram
