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September 24, 1998
ELECTIONS '98
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How Readers reacted to Mani Shankar Aiyar's last column
Date sent: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 17:13:41 -0600
Dear Rediff editor, If your intention in calling back Mr Aiyar is to create controversy (read more hits), then you will probably win, but only in the short term. I recently cancelled my subscription to India Today for allowing this character to aggravate readers like me for so, so long. I really like Rediff, but then, I really liked India Today for so many years too! It would be really sad to see Rediff go the same route. I realise that India Today finally got rid of this specimen not too long ago. However, it came too late for me. While the print medium offers some latency, the electronic reader is not bound by the mechanics of annual subscriptions. If you don't like what you see, you just surf on! Sorry for preaching electronic publishing 101 to you, but a lot of bad decisions can be corrected by going back to basics. Further, since when did Rediff become a refuge for India Today rejects!?
Atul Varde
Date sent: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 15:30:05 -0400
"The totality of the global experience of the 90s has vindicated the Nehruvian model of aligning a mixed economy to a democratic political system, leaving the mix of the private and public sector, as well as the mix of the domestic and foreign sector, completely flexible, while keeping rigidly inflexible the commitment to democracy." THIS IS GREAT! This would certainly put Humphrey Appleby to shame! Suresh Mahalingam
Date sent: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 10:52:25 PDT
Dear Rediff, It is interesting and amusing to see Mr Aiyar back on Rediff. Interesting because of all the literary convolutions he engages in to hide his hypocrisy and irrelevance. Amusing because of the Mountebankish pose that he, obviously unbeknownst to him, strikes while providing commentary that is utterly devoid of anything but good English put to bad use. Readers would do well to remember that he deserted the Congress in the last election when he realised that people in his home state of Tamil Nadu had seen through his insincerity and impotence. Ever the Gandhi-Nehru sychophant, he has again crawled out from under his favourite rock holding an unrequited candle for the Congress and Manmohan. Nice attempt at trying to win his way back into the good books of his keepers. And, as mentioned before, interesting! Prem Natarajan
Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 12:01:01 -0400
WOW! I am quoting verbatim a passage from Mani Shankar Aiyar's column: "The totality of the global experience of the 90s has vindicated the Nehruvian model of aligning a mixed economy to a democratic political system, leaving the mix of the private and public sector, as well as the mix of the domestic and foreign sector, completely flexible, while keeping rigidly inflexible the commitment to democracy. It is this alignment of democracy to the mixed economy that we in India call "socialism", as just reaffirmed by the Congress at Pachmarhi." I guess that has finally put to rest why we are so screwed up as a nation today. If somebody can hack their way through this thicket of verbiage and make any sense out of this, then praise be to him. Yes, the Asian market has been going down this year. And yes, Russia has been having more than its share of teething troubles as it tries to swim out of its mostly self-created quagmire. But let us have a look at the facts: The Asian Tigers, not withstanding their current troubles, are certainly a lot better off than they were 15 or 20 years ago. The so-called Socialist-Communist bloc, after decades of planned economies, is now moving towards a global market based economy with great gusto. And what about India? Fifty years of Nehruvism, socialism and all other isms and where are we? Poor, malnourished, economically impotent with a laughably small role in the global scenario notwithstanding what we might think of ourselves. Vindication of Nehruvism? I don't think so Mr Aiyar. Ramkumar Viswanathan
Date sent: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 23:53:40 -0400
I think Mr Aiyar's column was a very good one. He is articulate in describing the Indian model of socialism. It's true that because of the mix and match of public and private sector, and domestic and foreign sector, and strong democratic traditions, India is relatively free from the deep rut the "Tiger economies" find themselves in today. Go, India, we can do it! Hemant Yagnick
Date sent: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 20:42:21 -0700
What you have said in your article needs to be said many, many times, not only at home but internationally. The decibel level at which the mindless mantras of the cult of "free market economics" are being chanted must not be allowed to drown the voice of rationality and humanism, which is what the Nehruvian model was all about. The hypocrisy of the West has to be exposed. To take just one example, no country which has a visa restriction making it impossible for free movement of labour, the most fundamental of all factors of production, has the right to talk about globalisation and free market! Shyamal Ghose |
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