Editor,
Last week as I was on my way from Umsning to Shillong, I landed up with a flat tyre at around 11 pm near a junction between Rilbong Heritage Museum and the road leading towards Supply Depot. As I had no tyre spanner in my vehicle I was thus stranded there helpless. In my bid to garner some help, I started walking downhill. To my relief, I spotted a Police Vehicle (Tata Sumo bearing Registration No: Ml O5-G-0924) with an emblem “POLICE” parked a little further away. Without a second thought I proceeded towards the vehicle to seek help from our law keepers. Helpless as I was, I failed to locate a single policeman inside the vehicle. In fact the vehicle was occupied by 5-6 youths, all in an inebriated state. What I fail to understand is how a private/public vehicle can have display “POLICE” in their vehicle and roam about freely. Even if the said vehicle belonged to the police how did these inebriated youths manage to get access to it? On the one hand our ever innovative DGP is hell bent in doing away with tinted glasses under the pretext of “security concerns,” but on the other hand such major security lapses go unnoticed, that too a week before August 15 when the entire state was under high alert and under a heavy security blanket. Our DGP certainly owes an explanation for this lapse.
Yours etc.,
W Langstang,
Via email
Influx vs exodus
Editor,
Exodus of NE students cannot at all be linked to the Assam violence. Firstly, the Assam violence saw clashes between indigenous Bodos and illegal migrants of Bangladesh. Whereas on the other hand, the exodus of NE students from different cities of the country, has been created by a hysteria that has jeopardised the lives of thousands of north-easterners. How can one link an incident involving illegal settlers to an occurrence in mainland India? Or are the vested interests that want to promote vote banks politics of illegal migrants are behind this whole episode? In order to shift the attention from illegal migrants to a different issue, NE students are being made scapegoats. Parents back home ought to worry for the lives of their loved ones. The Government, in fact, should conduct a stringent enquiry to get to arrest those involved in creating this mass chaos. Influx has been a serious issue in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura since decades and action was never taken. This has now resulted in the outbreak of the July incident in Assam. Why is NE being targeted elsewhere then? Who is responsible? Was the Azad Maidan incident in Mumbai fabricated? What can be debated is that vested minds want the entire incident to be diverted from the issue of Influx to communalism so that vote bank politics is set aside and that retention of entry of illegal immigrants continues.
Yours etc.,
Wankitbok Pohshna
Shillong – 11
Whose India is this?
Editor,
This is in response to the brilliant editorial “Spreading violence”(ST 18 August) Instead of zealously fluttering the tricolour and engaging in rhetoric on Independence Day, we should learn to introspect a little. Firstly, we should not forget that along with Independence, our country also got partitioned following violent riots which killed thousands and uprooted, orphaned, widowed millions. In spite of witnessing such poisoning effects of communalism, we have not learnt any lessons. Else, demolition of Babri Masjid, Gujarat pogrom, extermination of Kashmiri Pundits, attacks on Christians and Churches in Orissa’s Kandhamal would not have continued to haunt India.
Secondly, on August 15, we attained freedom from the clutches of British imperialists only; but are we free of rogue politicians, corrupt government officials, greedy businessmen and terrorists who are de facto rulers in many remote corners of India? Have we got independence from racism, superstitions, bonded and child labour, poverty, hunger, illiteracy and the tedious legal processes whereby a complainant often does not get justice during his lifetime? The ever-increasing incidents of “honour” killings suggest that the evils of casteism are still flourishing.
Thirdly, what we perceive as Indian integrity is more geographical than spiritual. The country might be united geographically, but the more relevant question is whether it is united within. Can any civilized society ever imagine that just due to violence between Bodos and Muslims in merely few pockets of Assam; “progressive”, “modern” and “enlightened” Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore would paint all innocent persons, hailing from the whole of North-East India, as “enemies” and force them to leave the West and South Indian cities in droves? By which moral or democratic right can those brute elements dare to assault the North-Easterners? Are the rights of Marathis, Kannadigas or Telugu-speakers over Maharashtra, Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh any greater than that of an Assamese, Manipuri or Naga? In this sorry state of affairs, can India afford to accuse Pakistan or Bangladesh of discriminating against the Hindus living there? Will that not amount to a classic case of the “pot calling the kettle black”?
Lastly, we might have accorded the epithet of “Father of the Nation” on Mahatma Gandhi, but reality has proved that Indians are eminently capable of desecrating his ideal of ‘Ahimsa’. Thus, it is high time we learn to appreciate the true essence of Independence and nationalism by eradicating all evils that plague society, thereby honouring the sacrifices of innumerable freedom fighters who gave their today for our tomorrows.
Yours etc.,
Kajal Chatterjee
Kolkata – 114