Apologise, says court
By insisting that Congress president Rahul Gandhi should offer a clear-cut apology, the Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that it will not tolerate irresponsible behaviour (Page 1, “SC insists on apology from Rahul”, May 1). Mr. Gandhi should have put the matter to rest by admitting his mistake and offering an unconditional apology. Instead, the attempt to be clever by half in his affidavit, by having the word “regret” in brackets has only landed him in a soup. The top court’s stand will also act as a deterrent against being irresponsible.
Preetham K.,
Gajanur, Shivamogga, Karnataka
‘Prove citizenship’
I do not intend to advocate the candidacy of Rahul Gandhi but I feel it is strangely convenient for the Bharatiya Janata Party to have suddenly woken up to the need for him to provide the “factual position” on his citizenship, and in the middle of the general election (Page 1, “MHA raises issue of Rahul’s citizenship”, May 1). If this complaint goes back to 2015, why didn’t the Home Ministry highlight it till now? Is the ruling dispensation running out of better issues?
Kshitij Mani Tripathi,
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
It is strange that the ruling party is resorting to every trick in the trade to retain power. After having accused the Congress of working in favour of Pakistan, it appears to resurrected the issue of “citizenship”. Why is the Home Ministry flogging a dead horse?
Vidhya B. Ragunath,
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
It was the very same BJP that had raised objections when Sonia Gandhi began to make her presence felt in politics, citing her foreign origin. Now, the BJP appears to be resorting to the same trick. The BJP’s greed for power has also been proved by the Prime Minister’s statement in West Bengal recently when at an election rally he said “that 40 Trinamool MLAs” could be with him. Have we ever heard any of our Prime Ministers making such distasteful statements?
D. Sethuraman,
Chennai
There cannot be smoke without fire. There are records to show some evidence and it is a sensitive issue. Rather than take refuge under the argument that the case was dismissed earlier, Mr. Gandhi should come clean on his citizenship.
Raghavendran Ragothaman,
Udhagamandalam
The elusive snowman
I was amused by the report, “Army claims its climbers spotted Yeti footprints” (Inside pages, May 1). The statement by an Indian Army official who says the claims have evidence and that this will “excite scientific temper and rekindle interest” in the subject seems strange. “Exciting scientific temper” about a mythical subject issue is not only funny but also stretching things a bit too far. Many mountaineering expeditions have claimed to have sighted such evidence in the past. In a research paper back in the 1950s, professor M.S. Mani, a famous zoologist (also founder of the school of entomology, St. John’s College, Agra and former deputy director of the Zoological Survey of India), established that the “large footprints” sighted in the higher reaches of the Himalaya and attributed to the so-called snowman/yeti, are actually those of the brown bear. He was a pioneer in the field of research on ‘high altitude insects’. There is no scientific evidence on the snowman. The Indian Army should have checked itself from spreading misinformation.
S.K. Kulshrestha,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Even is there is solid evidence to “prove” that the being is the elusive Yeti, let us, for Nature’s sake, not disturb a pristine environment. We must learn not to endanger species that have been living and surviving in the lap of nature. Some things are best left alone.
M. Pradyu,
Thalikavu, Kannur, Kerala
Exam fiasco
The serious errors committed in the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education results this year should be an eye opener to all policymakers and bureaucrats in all educational boards (Editorial, “Off the mark”, May 1). These inexcusable errors not only affect students but also jeopardise the hard work put in by their teachers throughout the academic year.
S. Anantharaj Abraham,
Chennai
