Unfair accusation

Sir, - It is sad to see the pages of TheHindu, once renowned for its sobriety, impartiality and sense of fair play, being used by the likes of Mr. Harish Khare to rail and rant against the Constitution Review Commission without any basis whatever for its alleged pro-middle class and elitist bias. He has also unfairly accused the authors of the consultation papers of furthering the `hidden agenda' of the Sangh Parivar.

It is not only the BJP or the Sangh Parivar but all right thinking persons who value political stability as a sine qua non of progress and prosperity and are against the crippling economic burden of mid-term elections thrust on the nation by the whims of ambitious and self-seeking politicians who subvert and betray the people's mandate by their unscrupulous political manipulations and manoeuvres to grab or retain the reins of office.

What is wrong if the CRC's consultation papers express concern over the exploitation of caste sentiments by certain political parties? It is a pointless controversy whether casteism or communalism is a greater menace to the nation. While Mr. Khare and others of his way of thinking are free to project communalism as the greater evil, they need not spew venom against those who see a greater danger in the rise of casteism.

There is also no reason for Mr. Khare to deride the CRC as elitist for attaching importance to political parties and legislators being educated, socialised and sensitised to public welfare for being effective partners in the process of governance.

The common man - to whichever class he may belong - is increasingly fed up with the senseless vandalisation and destruction of public property and shattering of peace and tranquillity that inevitably accompany the huge rallies, processions and protest marches organised by political parties with increasing frequency using hired crowds. Such events invariably cause a great deal of hardship to thousands of law- abiding citizens of all classes and enormous loss of national assets and not merely inconvenience of a few hours as Mr. Khare seems to believe.

It is also mischievous to imply that the commission wants disagreements and disputes to be aired only through letters to the editor and CII type of seminars in air-conditioned ambience. Such innuendos are quite uncalled for.

S. Gurumurthy,

Chennai

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