Wonderful dilemma

Sir — Bengalis take great pride in showing off their hauls from the book fair. But not all of these books are read. Huge piles of unread books continue to gather dust even while we add more piles to the shelf. The Japanese word, ‘tsundoku’, perfectly describes this practice of purchasing books and leaving them unread. This habit is not restricted to just book worms. The growing list of ‘to watch’ items on streaming platforms is merely a digital version of tsundoku. Making a dent in one of these lists invariably leads to the other increasing in size. But is abundance of good content really a bad problem to have?

Soham Das, Calcutta

Narrow victory

Sir — The Aam Aadmi Party must be congratulated for winning the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and ending the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 15-year reign over the civic body (“AAP wins poll but can’t relax”, Dec 8). This victory comes in spite of the BJP deploying Central agencies to target the AAP’s top leadership. But the AAP performed poorly in wards that fall under the assembly constituencies of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain. Both ministers were targeted by the Enforcement Directorate. The fact that Jain continues to be a minister even though he is incarcerated betrays Kejriwal’s doublespeak on corruption. Moreover, the BJP has improved its vote share in the civic polls despite a strong anti-incumbency wave. This will pose a challenge for the AAP. It must now focus on fulfilling its poll promises.

S.K. Choudhury, Bengaluru

Sir — The AAP’s victory in the municipal polls is tenuous. It won only eight seats more than the majority mark of 126, whereas the BJP secured 104 seats. It will be difficult for the AAP to have a firm grip over the council given its narrow margin. It must now guard its winning candidates from being lured away by others.

Sravana Ramachandran, Chennai

Sir — Voters in Delhi seem to have been more convinced by the various welfare programmes implemented by the AAP than the BJP’s narrative of a ‘double-engine sarkar’. The absence of a strong opponent against Arvind Kejriwal may also have contributed to the AAP’s win.

Sumedha Singh, New Delhi

Sir — The results of the municipal polls in Delhi are humiliating for the BJP. It seems that overconfidence and infighting among leaders have led to its downfall. The AAP must now start working on ensuring good governance and a corruption-free administration.

C.K. Ramanathan, Ghaziabad

Frayed tempers

Sir — Activists of the Karntaka Rakshana Vedike and the Shiv Sena, respectively, allegedly attacked buses near Belagavi amidst an ongoing border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra. This violence must be condemned. The Union home ministry must step in at once and ensure that the matter does not escalate any further. The leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in both states must exercise caution and refrain from any provocation. It is also shameful that the decades-old border dispute has been stoked for political gains.

M.C. Vijay Shankar, Chennai

Eroded values

Sir — In the article, “Parliament must sit at least 120 days a year” (Dec 6), P. Sandosh Kumar, the Rajya Sabha member from the Communist Party of India, highlights the alarming erosion of parliamentary and democratic norms at the hands of the ruling regime. The average number of sittings of Parliament per year has dropped to just 64. As a result, Kumar argues, bills are being passed without adequate discussions. Further, the decline in deliberations has been matched by an ascendance in the number of ordinances promulgated since 2014. In spite of being the world’s largest democracy, India fares poorly in comparison to other democracies. In How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that democracies may die not at the hands of generals but at the hands of elected leaders. Worryingly, the blurring of lines between democracy and authoritarianism is most visible in India.

Jahar Saha, Calcutta

Rare artist

Sir — It was saddening to learn that the renowned French author, Dominique Lapierre, passed away at the age of 91. He started his career as a travel writer and went on to write more serious fiction and non-fiction. His deeply-researched works, City of Joy and Freedom at Midnight, received critical acclaim and earned him global recognition. He not only documented the effects of injustice in his literary works but also attempted to remedy them in real life through his humanitarian work.

M. Jeyaram, Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Parting shot

Sir — The Hooghly district administration has built an archive to display items related to the history, heritage and culture of the district (“Archive to show Hooghly’s past”, Dec 7). This a laudable initiative.

Sourish Misra, Calcutta