Sir — Jyotsna Bose, the now-deceased 93-year-old trade union leader from Calcutta, reportedly became the ‘first woman’ in India whose body has been donated for medical research on the coronavirus’s effects on humans. It has long been considered an act of great humanity to donate one’s body for medical research, or one’s organs for helping other people who might need them. In present times, the importance of such an act has increased manifold, given that a disease like Covid-19 has taken the global medical community by surprise. Doctors are learning new things about it to this day. To aid them in their quest, even posthumously,
is a noble act.

Rohini Sen,
Calcutta

Not wise

Sir — India has had a healthy tradition of having non-politicians as members of the Union council of ministers by virtue of their being experts in their fields — science, economics, engineering, education, law, diplomacy and public affairs. Some of the stalwarts are John Matthai, M.G.K. Menon, Raja Ramanna, K.L. Rao, V.K.R.V. Rao, Nurul Hasan, Triguna Sen, M.C. Chagla, Ashoke Kumar Sen, D.P. Dhar, Manmohan Singh and Y.K. Alagh. What was noteworthy about most of them was that even though they were nominated by the government of the day, they did not bend over backwards to please the political establishment. They had minds of their own. Some of them did become full-time party politicians later, but that is another story.

In present times, what is surprising is that a career diplomat like S. Jaishankar — he is the Union external affairs minister — who was generally perceived to be a voice of reason, has emerged as one of the most vociferous mouthpieces of the ruling party. His recent utterances, whether on the criticism by dissenters of India’s handling of the pandemic or in his virtual interaction with ambassadors, have made it evident that he is toeing the party line with clear indifference to ground realities and logical reasoning.

Earlier this week, Jaishankar declared that the Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, does not “speak for India” after Singapore’s foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, objected to Kejriwal’s claim that a highly infectious variant of Covid-19 that threatens to affect children might come from Singapore. While one may disagree with Kejriwal on many subjects, Jaishankar’s belittling of a democratically elected Indian chief minister before a foreign country did our external affairs minister no credit. Instead, one would have expected a more diplomatic and nuanced clarification from him. Unfortunately, he has taken to party politics and sycophancy like a duck takes to water.

Bhaskar Roy,
New Delhi

PARTING SHOT

Sir — It is wonderful news for Indian cricket fans that the former ace batsman, Rahul Dravid, is going to be named the head coach of the Indian white-ball team for its Sri Lanka tour next July (“Dravid head coach for Lanka tour”, May 21). It will be a privilege for the team to be coached by a batting legend like Dravid. The squad will be playing one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches during the tour. One hopes that the team will not only play brilliantly but also clinch both those series under the guidance of Dravid.

Sourish Misra,
Calcutta