Joint fight
It will be a futile and lonely battle for Kashmir’s politicians who want to restore the State’s special status (Page 1, “J&K parties team up for restoring special status”, October 16). Article 370 no longer resonates with the Indian people and its revocation is a fait accompli . The harsh reality they need to consider is that the national mood has shifted towards treating Kashmir as an integral part of India. The redundancy of historical claims is starkly apparent. The viable option before Kashmir’s political class is to swim with the tide of public opinion and work with the Centre to claim the State’s legitimate dues.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
That the former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir are now on one platform to form the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is a welcome step. Given the rapid pace at which events have unfolded in J&K over the past year, it is easy to forget that the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party have been arch-rivals for over two decades.
Mainstream Kashmiri parties stood against Pakistan-sponsored terror, but always sought, in principle, a degree of autonomy within India. The effective nullification of Article 370 has put an end to these political aspirations. They have found themselves blamed for having ‘surrendered’ to Delhi — the perception on the street — while Delhi’s establishment sees them as untrustworthy. Both parties now recognise that it is only by putting up a joint front that they can extract a renegotiation of Kashmir’s status within India. As they cannot give up their demand for the restoration of Article 370, the other more realistic goal is to ask for statehood. This unity between Kashmir’s democrats is positive, for it allows the Centre to reach a comprehensive accommodation with all. Delhi should start a sincere dialogue to restore normalcy.
B. Ahsanullah,
New Delhi
GST move
The reported reconciliatory stance of the Centre to break the impasse between the Centre and the States on the ways and means to make up the shortfall in GST owing to economic slowdown during COVID-19 times is welcome (Page 1, “GST: Centre to borrow for States”, October 16). This attitude of appreciation of mutual concerns should continue in the days to come, with continuity in dialogue. It is essential to provide quick relief to the common man who is also the common denominator for both governments. There is no reason not to adopt resolution even when it comes to internal matters. However, it is important to avoid pilferage of money in expenditure incurred either by the Centre or the States when there is heavy shortfall in revenues due to a pandemic.
M.V. Nagavender Rao,
Hyderabad
One wonders why it took so long for this realisation to dawn. It seems that the Centre would borrow the amount and extend it to the States as back-to-back loans to be adjusted against the future shares of the States of GST collections. This could have been agreed upon at the first instance instead of arm-twisting the States.
V. Padmanabhan,
Bengaluru
Kishore Bhimani
In the passing away of Kishore Bhimani, the Indian commentariat has lost a cricket library whose running commentary of Test matches on Doordarshan in the 1970s and 1980s enthralled many a viewer. That he had commentated when the legendary Sunil Gavaskar surpassed 10,000 runs in Test cricket was itself a great honour for Bhimani. Indeed, his passing creates a void in Indian cricket vis-à-vis running commentary.
K. Pradeep,
Chennai
Notes on cricket
The column, “Lessons from the master for India’s talented youngsters” (‘Between Wickets’, October 14), excelled for these reasons.
Sunil Gavaskar’s keen technical observation of A B de Villiers striking a six. Gavaskar as an expert was no different from his role as a batsman in terms of addiction to perfection. The columnist has beautifully delved into cricket’s virtues containing the Gita’s principles.
Further, the write-up is a subtle explanation of how Gavaskar’s vision for perfection has different meaning in the shorter version where the Gita would not apply. The excellence lies midway where a batsman can adapt to any format without making a compromise to the charm of the game like de Villiers and Kohli do, to name a few.
Sanath Kumar T.S.,
Thrissur, Kerala
