The formation of a ‘real Opposition’ (“ >Sum and substance of a real Opposition ”, June 1) points to the need for a creative and receptive Left presence. But none of the Left parties, especially the CPI(M), has such a vision. Environmental, gender and Dalit politics are still anathema to them. For example, in Kerala, when the report of the Western Ghats Ecological Experts Panel recommended strong measures to protect the Western Ghats, it resulted in a State-wide hartal that was supported by the CPI(M). When the AAP democratically stopped the Modi juggernaut in Delhi, the Left only viewed it as a development that lacked an ideological structure. When it has such a structure, how is it unable to stop the Modi wave?
Sukumaran C.V.,
Palakkad
Unfortunately, the article was elitist, self-indulgent and anti-Modi. The past was not as glorious as projected, nor the present as gloomy as endorsed. It is time that self-appointed public intellectuals shed their masks and stop carrying out political vendetta in the guise of a public debate.
Sudhakar Singh,
New Delhi
Unfortunately, I could detect only “Modi paranoia” and a eulogy of the AAP. While criticising Mr. Modi, the writer has made some unsustainable generalisations. Is there a sense of implicit jealousy in the analysis because the Prime Minister has captured the imagination of the mediocre, the underdog and the working middle class who have been the traditional backbone of the Left movement? The Left suffers from strategic myopia due to its complacency and lack of originality which Mr. Modi has leveraged to his own benefit.
Anoop Suri,
New Delhi
