Letters to the Editor: Today's Netaji

During our student days we were taught by our revered and learned teachers about the great Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, commonly addressed as Netaji, who was the first ICS of undivided India during British rule and also the president of INC during undivided India, and lastly the founder of the Azad Hind Fauj. In spite of his brilliant academic career, he sacrificed the lucrative British offer as an administrative officer and opposed the might of the British military by revolting openly against Gandhiji's policy of Quit India by non-violence and non-cooperation means. The result is history.

Now with multi-party secular democracy, we have yet another 'Netaji', namely Mulayam Singh Yadav, the supremo of the Samajwadi Party (SP), a 'secular' political party formed on the ideals of Late Ram Manohar Lohia, a true socialist, who fought for social justice to the downtrodden. The present SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav rose to become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and after his semi-retirement from active politics, he handed over the party reins to his son Akhilesh Yadav as if they own the SP, perfectly following 'dynasty politics'.

Late Ram Mohan Lohia must be turning in his grave to see how the father-son duo is doing social justice to the downtrodden!

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Bad omen for Aussies

It seems some bad omen has afflicted the Australian cricket community in recent times. Dean Jones died in September, 2020 in Mumbai during his IPL commentary assignment, and now the twin deaths of Rodney Marsh and Shane Warne last Friday have hit the collective consciousness of the cricketing fraternity like a sledgehammer. While Marsh's demise was expected as he was induced into a coma after suffering a heart attack, Warne's unforeseen death is extremely shocking. His figures of 1,001 wickets from 339 games (both in Tests and ODIs), stretching 15 years, are staggering and will be talked about for some more time now. And, of course, his dismissal of Mike Gatting, famously known as the 'Ball of the Century', will be recalled by many cricket fans. While March 4, 2022 will be remembered as a day shrouded in melancholy due to the death of these two legendary Australian cricketers, on the positive side it will be remembered for Virat Kohli's 100th Test and Rohit Sharma's debut as Test captain. It is all happening in international cricket on a single day!

Ranganathan Sivakumar,

Chennai – 600 091.