Dear Editor,
“A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell her how strong she is until you put her in hot water,” said Eleanor Roosevelt. Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher etc showed their mettle. Interestingly, Indira who ruled the largest democracy for 17 long years with an iron hand was initially belittled as “gungi gudia” (dumb doll). She was later credibly praised as “the only man in the cabinet” and “Durga”. Mehbooba has shown her determined sensibilities, fortitude and balancing act towards the volatile and sticky issue of J&K, even-handedly. Her words “separatism and communalism are the two faces of the same coin” and the unflinching declaration that J&K is an inseparable part of India, assure every Indian of her
credentials and courage. If she can succeed in restoring peace, she is likely to get a big financial support from
centre to develop the state which has been in dire straits for long.
B. M Singh
Amritsar
