The Hindu : Road shows & yatras

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Road shows & yatras

Sir, — L.K. Advani has likened the coming Lok Sabha election to a one-sided cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in which the outcome is a foregone conclusion. If he means what he says, he should stop his rath yatra. At least, ordinary citizens along the yatra route will be spared the ordeal of power cuts, telephone disruptions and traffic hold-ups, unlike the hapless citizens of Salem district who had to undergo all this when his chariot drove past informing them that they were all `feeling good.'

Ranjit Rajan,

Thrissur, Kerala

* * *

Sir, — Campaigning is a democratic right only as long as the taxpayer's money is not wasted. If the entire police machinery needs to be mobilised, government officials are not able to do their routine work, and movement of the common man is curtailed, it is unacceptable.

T. Muthukumar,

New York

* * *

Sir, — How can politicians indulge in such ostentatious election campaigns when half the country is in abject poverty? They are trying to woo us at our own expense! The Election Commission should restrict such extravaganzas so that the public will not have to bear the aftermath.

Vidya Panicker,

Alappuzha, Kerala

* * *

Sir, — All political parties are glorifying personalities and selling fantasies. The real issues are sidelined by `road shows' and `feel good' yatras. Abject poverty, illiteracy, rising unemployment and regional disparities hardly appear to be issues. Political advertising is only meant to fool the voter. In the process, the voter has been reduced to insignificance.

Pradeepta Ranjan Pattanayak,

Cuttack

* * *

Sir, — The electronic media are playing a crucial role in the current elections. Performance has become irrelevant, and well-managed advertisements and publicity have started substituting it. Money power and capability to make exaggerated claims through the media, it seems, will decide election results in future.

V.P.G. Nair,

Aluva, Kerala

* * *

Sir, — Abuses and counter-abuses hurled by politicians at one another during election campaigns are disturbing. They only add fuel to the fire of personal animosity and will culminate in undesirable violence during the elections.

R. Madhavan,

Salem, T.N.

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