Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Rice war

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's announcement that if her party is voted to power all ration cardholders will be given 10 kg of rice free every month, within days of her ridiculing the DMK manifesto promising one kg of rice at Rs.2 is surprising. It is clear that both the DMK and the AIADMK are desperate to win. Unfortunately, manifestos have lost their meaning.

K. Murlidar,
Chennai

Besides being the staple food, rice seems to have become an important ingredient for electioneering in the State. After DMK chief M. Karunanidhi and the DMDK's Vijaykant, it is now Ms. Jayalalithaa's turn to join the rice war.

R. Ramarathinam,
Pondicherry

Ms. Jayalalithaa has fallen into the DMK's rice trap. If the DMK's offer is absurd because it will result in a heavy subsidy burden on the State, the same reasoning applies to the AIADMK's offer.

Vijaya Subramanian,
Chennai

Ms. Jayalalithaa's buy-10kg-get-10kg-free offer is a direct response to the DMK's one kg rice for Rs.2 promise. Why did the promise not find a place in the AIADMK's manifesto? One wonders how MDMK leader Vaiko will justify her promise, after maintaining at all meetings that rice at Rs.2 a kg is a sham.

P. Venkatesh,
Salem, T.N.

If such a scheme is actually possible to implement "on being elected," surely it should have been possible even during Ms. Jayalalithaa's term in office?

R.K. Murthy,
Coimbatore

The Dravidian parties are inventing novel offers to cheat the poor masses. They are vying with one another in offering freebies, for which the same poor will pay indirectly. People do not need freebies; all they need is empowerment.

S. Ramani,
Vellore, T.N.

Electioneering has become an exercise in bidding as in chit companies where the person making the least bid clinches the deal. One is reminded of the 1990s when finance companies wooed the depositors with high interest rates. We all know what happened to them.

V. Pandy,
Tuticorin, T.N.

The BOGO (buy one, get one free) tactic has spilled over to politics. The Tamil Nadu voter can assess the concessions and inducements, and elect parties not as per his conscience but as per the highest gain reaped! All the pious principles have gone for a toss.

R. Ramachandra Rao,
Hyderabad

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

No more excuses
Beyond interest rate signals
A national authority for rainfed India
"The sky is the limit for Indo-German relationship"
Please, sir, can we bully you?
An agreement and a problem with semantics
Corrections and clarifications
Timely warning
Rice war

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu