This refers to Barun Roy's column "Still an area of darkness" (Asia File, June 13). Despite several outbursts of public anger in the past 66 years, India has had periodic elections, and even changed governments. Our democratic strength is what distinguishes us from China, which, despite much progress, is not able to find a mechanism to give its people minimum rights and freedom, much as its leaders declare from time to time. In their recent book China's Silent Army, Cardenal and Araujo say this ability of India is burning China up inside. In both the "India Shining" and "Bharat Nirman" campaigns, the accent is on development. This is a positive sign; and we should not bemoan it.
S Subramanyan, Navi Mumbai
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