M A I L B A G

Pratibha’s win will empower women

Mrs Pratibha Patil’s candidature for the post of President is most welcome (Editorial, “Race for Raisina Hill”, June 19).

Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Ms Mamata Banerjee, Ms Mayawati, Ms Jayalalithaa and now Mrs Pratibha Patil have all shown that it is not the gender superiority but their ability to work hard and their overall personality that bring political power.

A woman can stand tall in this male-dominated society.

KAMAL BHARDWAJ, Ambala Cantonment

II

While selecting Mrs Pratibha Patil as the candidate for the presidential elections, the UPA partners have taken into consideration her “Shekhawat” connection. This is because of the NDA’s choice of Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the post. Clearly, this does not bring glory to a party which swears by secularism and a casteless society.

M.P.S. RANDHAWA, Dhapai (Kapurthala)

III

Mrs Pratibha Patil is the right candidate for the President’s post. She is an advocate, an experienced legislator, minister, former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman and the Governor of Rajasthan till June 21. The Opposition needs to enlighten the people what more one expects of her to qualify for the post.

Dr RAJAN MALHOTRA, Palampur

IV

Among the many virtues that the UPA nominee for the presidential elections is being credited with, the one that is more loudly being trumpted by the media is her loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

However, is loyalty to one family really a virtue for the one who is required to be loyal to over a billion souls?

RAM SARAN BHATIA, Faridabad

V

We are shocked to learn that President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has decided not to contest the presidential election for a second term. He is a great scientist and indeed people’s President. It is our bad luck that he won’t be able to guide the country’s destiny from Rashtrapati Bhavan from July 24.

The country would have benefited very much had he been elected for another term. Dr Kalam’s  successor may be better, but Dr Kalam, undoubtedly, is the  best, the very best.

Dr JOGINDER SINGH AND FIVE OTHERS, Tohana

Punctuality, a great virtue Punctuality is a virtue. One who is a stickler for punctuality will always have spare time at his disposal while the one who is not faces problems. My 75-year-old grandfather narrated an incident the other day about Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa. After he took over as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, his father, a retired teacher, invited Cariappa to lunch. The C-in-C arrived 15 minutes late. Initially, his father refused to let him in. He said, “You might be C-in-C in Delhi”, but here you are nobody. Cariappa was so much disturbed that he asked his father to pardon him. Later, Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa became very punctual. He was so punctual that one could always set his watch whenever he attended any function. RAVESH PARIHAR, Army Public School, Yol Cantonment (Kangra)

Dera chief

Apropos of the report “It’s hard to find dera chief” (May 23), it was mentioned that following a threat to his life, the dera chief had not held public meetings for the past two days. On that particular day — May 22 — I was personally present in the dera at Sirsa. Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh himself addressed the public both in the morning and in the evening. Secondly, the reporter has used the word “used to” in a wrong sense. This has greatly hurt the sentiments of his followers.

Dr RAJIT GUPTA, Dhanaula (Punjab)