Crossover and more

It was a shock to see the stand-alone picture, captioned “Burying the past” (March 4) — of Narendra Modi in deep conversation with Lok Jan Shakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan at Muzaffarnagar. It was Mr. Paswan who was severely critical of the 2002 riots. What made him change his mind now? How long will this political drama last? It was equally interesting to read the report, “Two faces of Gujarat riots” (March 4) — of Qutubuddin Ansari and Ashok Mochi at Taliparamba near Kannur.

Muhammed Ali Shihab,

Kozhikode

The 2014 election seems to be resulting in strange things. With these runaway alignments, realignments and a shifting of allegiances

aka turncoat politics, Indian politics has become an object of mirth. The most bizarre and amusing is the example in Bihar. One day, the Congress, RJD and the LJP decide to form an alliance against the incumbent JD(U) and the BJP. The next day we read reports that the LJP has decided to join hands with the BJP. Mr. Paswan who, until the other day, had been a staunch critic of Mr. Modi, now vows to make Mr. Modi the Prime Minister! With the LJP now opting out of the alliance, the Congress and the RJD were expected to settle the matter between themselves amicably. Then comes the news that Mr. Yadav is unhappy and protesting being given short shrift. Long live Indian opportunistic politics.

R.K. Kshitheesh,

Thiruvananthapuram

There could be nothing more ridiculous than having Mr. Modi attacking the SP government on the issue of recurring communal violence in U.P. (“Modi, Mulayam, Kejriwal pull no punches in U.P.,” March 3). Has he forgotten Godhra? Even A.B. Vajpayee is reported to have expressed his displeasure. If it is true that the Congress, the SP and the BSP are misleading people under the veil of secularism to hide their failures, Mr. Modi is certainly not the right person to criticise others on the ground of communalism. Writer Stephen Leacock in his essay “Old Proverbs Made New” suggested that the proverb “people who live in glass houses ought not to throw stones” be rewritten as “they are the very people who ought to throw stones and to keep on throwing them all the time. They ought to keep up such a fusillade of stones from their glass house that no one can get near it.”

Buddhadev Nandi,

Bishnupur, West Bengal