Editor,
The word selfie sounds like selfish. In fact this new craze fans our narcissism and makes us oblivious of our surrounding which is getting away from mother nature day by day. At a time when the world leaders are meeting in Paris for climate change conference, we should now abandon clicking selfies for good and click nature-pics instead. It will do us a world of good. It will certainly highlight endangered species, ponds, water bodies and trees and makes us conscious about how important they are for our own existence. If this snowballs into a movement then it is bound to check global warming. Newspapers and magazines should rise to the occasion and invite nature-pics instead of printing meaninglessness selfies of celebrities. Celebrities on the other hand need to stop indulging the mania of being enamoured of their own beauty and ponder over ways on how they can contribute to keep our Mother Earth cool.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email
Modi pitch for what?
Editor,
Apropos the editorial titled “Modi’s pitch” (November 28, 2015), what’s the utility of mere words unless it gets translated in action? And when words and deeds do not match, the former automatically gets relegated to pure rhetoric. It is very easy to announce that “India first” and the Constitution are the “only religion” and “only holy book” respectively! It is also “nationalist” to utter that diversities of India need to be nurtured! But what are we viewing practically? Nothing but the exact contrary. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of Narendra Modi’s own party BJP is acting as the self-appointed guardian of India and deciding who will live in this country or not! Yes, thanks to Khattar, we have come to the realisation that if one desires to eat beef, he/she would not be allowed to live in India! When will the dark mindset of BJP, RSS and saffron brigade become enlightened of the fact that this secular, democratic, heterogeneous, multi-lingual multi-religious country is not the paternal property of any particular linguistic or religious group? It is a matter of utmost shame that those who cannot uplift themselves from the chauvinist divisive philosophy of “HindiHindu-Hindustan” are presently calling the shots in New Delhi and different states and are hell bent on creating mayhem by exploiting religious sentiments despite holding Constitutional posts. The saffron brigade religiously draws political oxygen by zealously assaulting the sentiments of non-Hindi speakers and non-Hindus.
While the earlier days had witnessed Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Babri Masjid demolition, subsequent communal riots throughout the country, Gujarat pogrom, Amit Shah’s call of “revenge” while campaigning in Muzaffarnagar prior to 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Giriraj Singh’s roar of sending the “anti-Modis” to Pakistan; the “Good Days” are viewing unique concepts of “love jihad”, “religious reconversion”, “All Indians are Hindus” and “Gita is the national book”! Forcing Muslim canteen employee of New Delhi’s Maharashtra Bhavan to eat food during his fast, cold-blooded murders of rationalists, death threats to authors criticising the saffronisation of India or blackening their faces, murder of innocent individuals on suspicion of beef consumption, barbaric imposition of Hindi in all spheres and celebration of ‘International Hindi Conference’ through State money are indeed brilliant specimen of “nurturing of diversities”! It seems that “Good Days” and “Hindu FirstHindi First” are synonymous terms! Thanks to the communal ideology and minority bashing of the saffron brigade, this whole secular multi-religious country has got Talibanised to such a horrific extent that the Hindutva fanatics are not only killing innocent persons for his alleged “sin” of consuming beef; they are chasing the “cattle smugglers” and even brutally beating them to death in Himachal Pradesh by taking law in their own hands. Yes, when parties based on communal ideology are scandalously voted to power in a secular diverse heterogeneous land; bringing the country to the brink of a civil war indeed heralds the arrival of “Good Days”! Instead of indulging in shrill rhetoric, why does the preaching not getting translated into practice? Sack Khattar from the post of Chief Ministership, announce that henceforth the party would refrain itself from infringing upon the dietary habits of different religious communities and work for the welfare of the society instead of imposing Hindutva and Hinditva in this diverse land.
If BJP or NDA indeed bats for India’s diversity, then how could it justify the presence of outright communal Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityanath, Sangeet Som, Mahesh Sharma or Sanjeev Baliyan in the party or the Union Ministry? They will continue to enjoy a field day and the secular nationalists of this country would have to believe that the party or the Government does not share their views! BJP should at first sack these rabid elements from the party whose antics have posed a severe assault on all democratic and secular ethos of this country before delivering pious statements. But prior to that, the party would have to turn nationalist enough to award all languages and religions of this diverse nation on an equal pedestal by rising above the shallow well of all things Hindi and Hindu.
Yours etc.,
Kajal Chatterjee,
Kolkata
Mockery of democracy
Editor,
We are witnessing a waterlogged debate about the rising “intolerance” in the country. Most recently when a celebrity like Amir Khan spoke his heart out, brickbats were thrown at him and whoever is associated with him; even brands he endorses were not spared. Somehow, all the negative responses that Mr. Khan received certainly proved a point about how intolerant our country has become. On the one hand we talk about the “freedom of speech”, on the other we act like despots. When someone criticizes the Government, his views are taken to have been directed at the country as a whole. In mature democracies such as the US, celebrities have not shied away from criticizing their own governments over issues such as Iraq war and the Vietnam war, but their patriotism is never questioned on account of their critique, something we witness in India today. A celebrity speaking out on social issues is a good thing as opposed to the silence they have maintained thus far. While people have every right to disagree with Khan, the severity of the backlash and language used against him virtually proves the point he was making. When a citizen of the country cannot criticize his government anymore, it sure is not a healthy sign for a democracy set up like ours.
Yours etc.,
Lawrence Pherliam Sumer,
Via email