Editor,
Apropos the letter – “Dangerous agenda and propaganda” by Salil Gewali, (ST Dec 28, 2019), I would like to add a few things which are my unbiased observations. Gewali’s letters published in The Shillong Times always make us more aware about the ground realities which are very unfortunate in West Bengal. Due to Mamata’s greed for power she has turned West Bengal into a kind of hell for the native Bengali from the particular religion though her party and her supporters may not agree on this. The ground realities are extremely pathetic. For vote bank the Chief Minister often does not give any power to the police forces to deal with terror activities unleashed by certain communities which facts are on record. There are areas where other indigenous communities cannot perform their religious festival and rituals and live in peace. Temples and Puja pandals in certain districts are destroyed and the residents live in fear but there is no action from the government. During the last MP election in a village named “Raiganj” the Hindu community was barred from exercising its democratic right. The news was published by NDTV and India Today. Usually the Government administration is totally mute and news about breakdown of law and order are seldom brought to the notice of the general public. Many biased elements are at work.
I have personally made observations during my Puja vacation three years ago that the situation is getting from bad to worse particularly now when the infiltrators keep coming in and they are being encouraged by the ruling party cadres. In some districts even the heinous criminals are not convicted if the crimes are committed against people of certain communities. What do you call this kind of situation and just imagine the plight of the native Bengali.
I am surprised why certain writers purposely ignore such violence and terror activities for so many years but they make the opposite community look like criminals which is totally unfair. It has often come out in the news that some MLAs encourage terror activities but they all get suppressed too soon. Salil Gewali has given us a timely warning of this culture of biased reporting and has been creating awareness through his write-ups.
Yours etc.,
Rupesh Nath,
Via email
Year of tumult
Editor,
2019 will be remembered by many Indians as the year when things happened in rapid succession. First it was the return of the BJP to power and the actions taken by the new NDA Government under the new Home Minister, Amit Shah. Article 370 was abrogated and two Union territories were created. Jammu and Kashmir was left without a window to the world through a complete internet shutdown since August this year. The nation was left stunned but many of course celebrated this action of the Modi Government and felt vindicated that no part of the nation should enjoy special privileges. In fact, looking at the scenario today it would seem that we are a divided polity more than ever before. We look at each other from the prism of religion rather than as fellow Indians. How we have arrived at this point is something we have not had time to reflect.
As someone rightly said, we have been ruled by a Congress party that fawned over people of one religious group to the point that they made the majority Hindu community feel abandoned. When the NDA came to power this time this majority community suddenly felt rejuvenated. They felt they needed to assert themselves and reclaim all that they had lost in so many decades. Whether this reaction is good for a country that launched itself as a secular, republic and decided consciously to allow all religions to thrive without making any single religion a state religion, now seems challenged. The Christians as a small minority making barely two per cent of the country’s population now feel so vulnerable; more so the people of the North East who are ethnically and racially dissimilar to their compatriots in the rest of the country. These ethnic minorities feel they have no protective cover other than the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. And now all these seven small states want to keep out the “outsider” by asking for the Inner Line Permit. In Assam the Chief Minister has even said that Assamese will be the official/state language to counter the anti-CAA protestors, thereby putting on notice other tribes like the Bodos, Karbi, Dimasas and the Bengali speaking people of the Barak Valley. We are moving into little ghettoes because out leaders take the easiest way out to quell small revolutions.
The NPP which is the Party leading the MDA Government in Meghalaya, yesterday sent out a public notice to its Party members that they should not write against the CAA or take part in public protests or join those who go to court on the CAA issue. Isn’t this like a mini dictatorship? Don’t the members of the NPP have their democratic rights to think what’s good or bad for themselves? All these events portend a future that is not very secure for the people of the region. The NPP as a member of the NDA seems hell bent on pleasing their bosses in Delhi. Where is Meghalaya headed for as a state and what is the future of the North East? Can anyone give an answer?
Yours etc.,
Nangaibor Diengdoh,
Via email
BJP sliding
Editor,
In a major blow to the BJP after it lost Maharashtra, yet another state slipped out of its hands on Monday as Jharkhand elected a government of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance. The defeat was complete with Chief Minister Raghubar Das losing his seat from his home turf of Jamshedpur (East).
Jharkhand went to the polls at a time when the Citizenship Act had been raging across the country and this raging issue had impacted the voters. The BJP believed that they could consolidate the Hindus in their favour but the people decided otherwise. From this, the BJP has been able to learn a lesson that the consolidation of Hindus in its favour is just a pie in the sky. BJP’s idea on the consolidation of Hindus just fell flat in Jharkhand. Undoubtedly, the same fate awaits the BJP elsewhere in the country too if they do not cautiously tread on the issues affecting the masses. The election results of Jharkhand are just like the coming events casting their shadows before. So, if the BJP wants to stay in the political arena, it must correct the wrong policies it has been pursuing.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email