Surjit Bhalla (‘Terror by any other name’ October 31) has done well to make fun of liberals who glorify Maoists by arguing the Maoists are simply drawing attention to the failure of governance. They kidnap police officials to show people the police are not doing their jobs, presumably. If this kind of behaviour can be justified on the basis of the state not delivering, then 28 or 72 per cent of India, depending upon which estimate of poverty you take, should be taking arms against the government. That India has a governance problem is obvious, what is not obvious is why violent reactions should be accepted as a solution to this.
Samir Gupta, New Delhi
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