Editor,
Meghalaya has turned 48 and I would like to acknowledge the efforts of people who worked with unstinted commitment for our Statehood. They saw something need-based to have asked for a state of our own! However, I wonder if today, they are appreciative of what statehood means to the citizens of the Meghalaya. Where we are today, is far from development, progress and change. In the health sector we have made no progress; education is still in a sad state; road connectivity is despicable, to name just a few drawbacks. Government after government has failed the state and its people. If there had been any progress and benefits it had been for those in the helm of affairs and their families. Efforts for development are a distant dream. The real meaning of statehood is lost if the state is in a despicable plight. Sadly, that is where we are today. The celebration of Meghalaya Day is mere tokenism if we do not adhere to the principles of righteousness and consciousness for the uplift of the land and its people. We have failed our leaders who fought for statehood and will continue to do so if we do not look back and see what their aspirations were when they started the journey of trying to create a separate state. Certainly their dream was to see Meghalaya becoming a progressive and well-governed state. But that is still a distant dream.
Yours etc.,
Jenniefer Dkhar,
Via email
Gunman goes berserk
Editor,
The anti-CAA stir doesn’t seem to end. Rather it is gathering more steam to snowball into a raging national issue as dramatic turn of events keep highlighting the anti-CAA stir. A supposed teenager fired from a pistol at anti-CAA protesters on Thursday at Jamia injuring a student from that University. The boy was overpowered by police and taken into custody. Though normalcy returned to Jamia and its adjoining areas by night, Opposition parties cashed in on the opportunity to corner the BJP accusing its divisive politics for the shooting.
The terrifying incident took place as hundreds of students, protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, were on their way to Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, whose death anniversary was observed on the same day (January 30). The teenager in an attempt at shoot the protestors walked backwards pointing his gun at them. Dozens of policemen in riot gear were seen behind him, but none of them tried to stop the shooter. Sneering at the protesters, he (the shooter) chanted ‘Yeh lo azaadi’ and fired the shot. The special Commissioner of Police (intelligence) Praveer Ranjan said, “By the time the police could react, the person already fired. Everything happened in seconds. The investigation is on, and the case has been transferred to the crime branch.”
The incident further fuelled more protests with agitated students and others gathering near the university breaking barricades put up by police and clashing with police personnel. Meanwhile, the Opposition parties latched onto the provocative speech by Union Minister Anurag Thakur to accuse the BJP of creating a situation that led to the shooting. The last week saw an all out attempt by the BJP to place Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protest as its main poll plank. The BJP leaders including Shah have unleashed massive outreach to convince the voters that the supporters of the anti-CAA protest, especially the Shaheen Bagh crowd represented the so called ‘tukde tukde’ gang.
But the Shaheen Bagh protest primarily led by women has become a site of modern day Satyagraha, a Gandhian method of agitation for truth and justice against the brute power and oppression of the current regime. After the passage of the CAA, massive student-led rallies rocked the national capital, including at Jamia Millia Islamia University. The police resorted to a violent crackdown to crush the protests by breaking into the University Library to beat up students. As a matter of fact, the Shaheen Bagh sit-in has become a thorn in the flesh of the right wing in India. The ruling cadre has aggressively tried to defame and discredit this protest.
The shooting incident could be an outward expression of the pent up hatred preached by some leaders of the right-wing party. The Shaheen Bagh protest is by all means a peaceful Satyagraha and the Union government has to pay heed to the demands of the protesters in order to bring it to a close. Everyone in our country has the right to protest peacefully and the people participating in the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh are no exception. So, the government has to talk to them and try to end the protest at the earliest. If the protest is allowed to continue, it only affect the prospects of the BJP party in the future especially when the Delhi election is imminent.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email