Editor,
‘You reap what you sow’. This proverb still holds good in the Indian political realm. The seed of goodness of governance tirelessly sown by PM Narendra Modi has now sprouted and in most of the places already in full bloom. The electorate is enthusiastic and feels good to vote for Modi. Or else the resounding victory of BJP would not have been possible, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It now quite clearly appears that the Prime Minister’s hard work has been acknowledged and is yielding promising results, no matter how derisively his detractors undermine him. Having a habit of making peace with uncertain challenges, PM Modi has introduced diverse schemes which are all aimed at soothing the pain of the poor. His demonetization has more takers than detractors. Jan Dhan Yojana, insurance cover of 2 lakh by paying paltry Rs 12 and Rs 330 for PMSBY and PMJJBY respectively, direct transfer of subsidies to the beneficiaries’ accounts, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, Soil Health Card Scheme, massive toilet construction, rural electrification, to name a few, have further brightened the BJP’s prospect in many ways. Even states like – Goa and Manipur, where the party has not won the required number of MLA seats, has now triumphantly formed the government.
One wonders why political pundits easily forget the Congress’s track records and the fact that it often usurped the chairs of power in the past. The party was then hardly in the eye of the storm. But the BJP received heavy criticism when it mustered the numbers to form the government in Goa and Manipur. Is it not too obvious that the independent or minor parties’ MLAs never bet on the losing horse? They eye for plum posts with financial leverage which the BJP with power in the centre can offer.
The Congress that ruled the roost for over four decades should change its policies drastically. A “change of guard” is the need of the hour. Why are it’s leaders failing to understand that the perpetuation of the Gandhi dynasty is proving to be a nemesis, more so when the incompetent Rahul Gandhi unbecomingly roars around and commits gaffe after gaffe. ‘Compared to the Vice President of the Congress our Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma or DD Lapang or Paul Lyngdoh…are 100 times better’, says a wise man of the state. No one disagrees that the “appeasement” policy of this party in favour of a particular community has awfully frightened away the “majority”. This all has, very doubtlessly, come as an opportunity for the BJP to grab at.
Can the sensible electorate forget the “continuous ruckus and circus” enacted by the Congress in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha? Has not this further alienated the major chunk of the country’s populace? The Congress’s sensible leaders should do a thorough soul-searching. The temples of democracy have never been so mindlessly defiled. Can this party realize it now that it can only reap only that it sows?
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali
Shillong-2
Culture versus religion
Editor,
I am extremely happy to see many bright minds coming forward to participate in the debate on Lum Sohpetbneng in response to my letter “Of culture and religion” (ST, Feb 17,2017) in these columns. However, I am a bit perturbed by the deviation, of late, from the main subject matter. Presently, the focus is more on the participation of Khasi Christians in the pilgrimage to Lum Sohpetbneng. Well, we Khasi Christians can participate in any pilgrimages in the country and abroad and there are many who have gone to Vaishno Devi, Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir and other such pilgrimages elsewhere. I do not see any wrong in that but my contention here is the building of a chapel at the Holy Peak of Lum Sohpetbneng – which to me is an ulterior motive to denigrate and usurp the space of the believers of the indigenous faith in Meghalaya. It is a bigger game-plan by those who can’t see anything more than their own. That the traditional practitioners of religion and culture have the same right to practice and dwell under the sun looks to be too much for these usurpers to grasp. It has to be understood here that we are known by our roots/origin first followed by religion and rest of it.
The inculturation and assimilation by any religion of the indigenous beliefs and practices is of no use unless one is entrenched in his/her roots/origin. I agree with an author who once said in these columns that the Khasi society or in greater parlance the tribal society of Meghalaya could have been better off had they been left to practice their own customs, traditions, faith, practices and all that on which their indigenous livelihoods were based. It is in this context that I also agree with Dr Omarlin Kyndiah who wrote is his letter “Culture and identity” (ST, Mar 20, 2017) that, “It is part of recorded history that even if some members of any given community adopt another belief system or religion, they cannot ignore their traditions and culture.”
Yours etc.,
Bellbora Wankhar
Shillong – 5