In his inimitable style, in his brilliant article “A case for restraint and moderation” (May 14), Mr. Gopalkrishna Gandhi has aptly stated “that the voter reposes trust, rather than power. The elector confers opportunity rather than sovereignty.”
Unfortunately, there will be no takers for his advice — to show grace as was done in the past. The calibre and dignity of those stalwarts were different from today's boisterous, and often unrefined, lawmakers and leaders.
G.M. Rama Rao,Visakhapatnam
The article provided a wonderful insight into the Indian ethos in a post-election scenario. Let us hope good sense prevails on those who matter in governance.
K. Nehru Patnaik,Visakhapatnam
The article has come at the right time especially when there seems to have been a major political upheaval across India.
The victors must remember the title of English politician Ken Livingstone's autobiography “If Voting Changed Anything, They'd Abolish It.” There must be no place for vindictive politics.
Mahalingam Yaaman,Tuticorin
The writer, as a torch-bearer of Rajaji's legacy, has extolled the virtues of grace in victory towards the defeated. The gems of perennial wisdom enshrined in the article deserve to be read and followed by not only the winners of the recent elections but also by every winner of any contest anywhere in the world be it electoral, sporting or any other.
To those of my generation, the simplicity and beauty of the writer's language brought back memories of Rajaji's writings in Swarajya decades ago.
C.P. Srinivasan,Minneapolis
It was an eye-opener to read about the ethics and goodwill that political leaders of yesteryear practised. What a contrast things are today.
T.V. Suresh,Coimbatore
The exit of incumbent governments may present an opportunity to the new leaders to institute inquiries and even prosecute the predecessors for their alleged acts of misuse of authority and government machinery. However strong the appeal of such courses of action, the successors need to remind themselves of what Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord told Napoleon: “Revenge is a luxury a statesman can ill-afford.”
In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, continuing the good things of what the earlier governments began — land reforms in West Bengal or strengthening of the public distribution system in Tamil Nadu would be more in line with Justice Ranade's word of caution to reformers: “The true reformer has not to write on a clean slate. His work is more often to complete the half-written sentence.”
N.R. Krishnan,Chennai
