Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Tytler quits

By allowing Jagdish Tytler to resign as Minister, instead of sacking him from the Government and expelling him from the party, the Congress has created a halo around him. The Congress should expel both Mr. Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from primary membership. The UPA Government should initiate a through, time-bound and impartial investigation against all those named in the Nanavati Commission report.

Shahabuddin Nadeem,
Bangalore

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurance of reopening all the cases and the demand of the BJP, with the Gujarat pogrom behind it, that he quit the Congress look like a farce now. P.V. Narasimha Rao who was Home Minister at the time of the carnage is dead. So is Rajiv Gandhi who was Prime Minister. Most of the police officials who were in charge of law and order then must have retired from service. Thus the idea of ensuring official accountability is absurd.

J.S. Acharya,
Hyderabad

The resignation of Mr. Tytler is certainly not the answer for the heinous crime committed 21 years ago against 3000 innocent Sikhs. But what will a re-examination of the cases achieve? For our leaders, the only solution for a problem is to obfuscate it so that the victims can be forced to forget everything if at all they are alive when a semblance of justice is deemed done.

U.S. Iyer,
Bangalore

Mr. Tytler's exit is a face-saver for the Congress. But it is a sheer waste of time, energy, and money to reopen and re-examine cases against individuals named by the commission.

M.N. Srinivasan,
Vellore, T.N.

Does the country really need to keep re-visiting the past? It only leads to more protests and rancour. Politicians should know better than to spend too much time on something that has been on the backburner for 21 years.

Bharat Jagannathan,
State College, Pennsylvania

Punishment can be awarded only if and after the crime is established beyond any doubt. Needle of suspicion is sufficient fuel for sentiment to flare up but not for punishing the accused. But then, expression of suspicion by an inquiry commission is a serious demonstration of its acute discomfort at not being able to get at that little missing link in the chain of evidence. Therefore, it is only proper that Mr. Tytler resigned.

K.X.M. John,
Kochi, Kerala

The belated late evening resignation of Mr. Tytler submitted to the Congress president did not do credit to either the party or the UPA Government. The tremendous pressure exerted by the Opposition, the media and the protesting Sikhs would have yielded little had the Left not demanded action against the Minister.

M.C. Joshi,
Lucknow

The political culture has deteriorated so much that even after being named by the Nanavati Commission, Mr. Tytler wanted to retain his position as Minister. He should have resigned on moral grounds before pressure mounted on him from various quarters.

S. Jayachandran,
Chennai

The 1984 massacre, more than anything else, is a national shame. Even if there is a shred of evidence against a person's involvement, he loses the moral right to remain in any public position. That Mr. Tytler has only resigned as Minister and Mr. Kumar as Chairman of the Delhi Rural Development Board is unfortunate. How can they continue to represent people unless exonerated of all charges?

P.J. Bagilthaya,
Bangalore

The noise made in Parliament over the report was only a drama, with Opposition MPs wanting to capture the nation's attention. Their reaction to issues is mechanical and habitual and has nothing to do with sympathy for the victims of the 1984 carnage.

P.U. Krishnan,
Udhagamandalam, T.N.

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