February 23, 2011

To, 

The Editor,

The New Indian Express,

Kochi

This is in reply to your article titled "blunt edge - whose commandos are they?"

You have indeed succeeded in creating a sensation with your article. Congratulations on that, if you may! But let me tell you that you have succeeded in pissing-off people in the process, so much for your venomous article.

The article published in The New Indian Express dated Feb 21, 2011

Mr. Parasuram (I strongly believe he is a coward. Please convey this to him.) has written some very derogatory comments about the Gujaratis living in Kochi. I see no reason for him to do so, unless he had some stake in the Indi Commandos and was deprived of the same by the team owners. First of all he is forgetting that the IC is a cricket team and not a terrorist outfit owned by somebody living in Gujarat or for any part of this Earth, for God's sake.

He also seems to be very much in tune with the Gujarati lifestyle because he has named some food items which the Malayalees are not easily familiar with. So, I would say he is stabbing his friends in the back.

He calls the spice traders smugglers. Gujaratis and the people of Gujarat are the highest tax paying people of the country. Your newspaper is also from the Goenka group. They are marwaris, I believe. Smart business people.

I know you are not about to print this letter in your "Letters to the Editor" section and even if you did, it would be edited to suit your taste. I don't even want you to do it. I dare your respected journalist to go back to the ethics of his profession and write. I also dare you to publish similar hate-articles against the minority community. The next day your office would be ransacked and gutted in fire.

You may have gained some, but remember you will lose some too. People like myself who always read TNIE will now switch to some other daily. My money will not go to feed the mouths of hate-propagators.

If you have the courage and the morals, please make your respected journalist write an apology to the Gujaratis. I don't think you will do it, because you simply don't have it in you.

With all due respects cos you deserve none,
Shefali A Shah,

Cochin