Editor,
The topic of conversation today is only about the Lok Sabha elections. Many people in the urban areas feel that they should vote the Congress candidates and reject the regional party and NPP candidates in Shillong and Tura respectively because of their alignment with the BJP. People equate the regional parties with the MDA Government which in turn is in league with the BJP at the Centre. The NDA Government at the Centre has created a climate of insecurity for us smaller tribes of the region. The attempt to push through the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) recently is one example. Fortunately better sense prevailed this time but Amit Shah the belligerent BJP President had stated at Guwahati recently that the CAB would be pushed through once BJP-NDA returns to power in 2019. This means that the protests by minority groups here had no impact at all on the BJP. Who knows what other Bills the BJP has in store which it would push through to take away the minority rights in the manner that it is trying to dilute Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The tribes of this region have always respected the secular nature of the country and the freedom that respective governments in the past had given to citizens to practice their faiths and follow their own cultures as far as choice of food is concerned. After 2014 we have seen lynching taking place and people suspected of keeping beef at home or transporting it elsewhere or trying to sell cattle have been mercilessly killed. This is not the India that we inherited in 1947. It is unfortunate that the regional parties of Meghalaya should align with a national party that has no respect for tribal faiths and cultures.
Yours etc.,
Ksanbor Syiem,
Via email
Terror mutates
Editor,
This refers to your editorial, “New twist to terror” (ST, March 18, 2019). New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was a picture of humanity when she hugged members of the Muslim community at a Christchurch refugee centre. Just after the mosque massacre, what she had said, would definitely energize our journey for a better tomorrow. She said, “We were chosen for (the attacks)… because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it. You (the attacker) have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you.” Fanatics and terrorists cannot stop the journey of humanity so long as the people like her are there among us.
But one thing that we need to focus is on social media. You rightly said in your editorial, “Social media demonstrated its ugly side. Both Facebook and Twitter could not block the live streaming online the horror scenes from the scene of the shootings.” Indeed, the horrific killings at two mosques in Christchurch was broadcast live on the Internet. The shooter also uploaded his manifesto allegedly equating the shooting with the typical trolling tactics of the Internet’s most far-Right instigators. Social media channels later reportedly struggled to remove copies of the stream.
It is a matter of concern that we have a huge trolling factory in our country. It first targets a victim. Then it starts trolling on social media channels to hurl unprintable filthy language on that person against whatever she/ he posts. Interestingly, the New Zealand massacre has a similarity with what happened to Afrajul Khan, a poor labourer from West Bengal.
He was hacked to death and burnt in Rajasthan by a lone assassin who made inflammatory comments and footage of the murder was uploaded on social media. The killer allegedly got influenced by hate speeches and messages on social media. Afrajul murder was also a chain of events that had originated in hate speeches in the social media and then it snowballed to a street murder and then it went back to social media for further snowballing.
The terror attack in New Zealand again highlighted the urgent need to make the global tech companies nip violent content in the bud and quickly block such addresses of hatred.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
The menace of drugs
Editor,
Drug trafficking is one of the major crimes. Killing someone or helping someone to kill himself is equal to a crime. This is what common sense and human sense says. The ones who are trafficking and helping such drugs reach each and every corner of the country are committing a big crime. Drugs and drug dealing is a scourge that can bring down a mature and intelligent society to intolerable levels of depravity. It is better to nip this crime in the bud so that our country doesn’t follow the horrible western malady. There should be no leniency when talking about peddlers and pushers who destroy the victim and his kith and kin and put the victim into unalterable habit which will make the individual take to all crimes including murder and rape. If we need to stop this menace from spreading we need harsh steps and stringent punishments. Only love and affection can help the youth from falling into clutches of drugs. Societal control is necessary along with legal alertness. Let us develop our Lives, our communities, our Identities…Without Drugs.”
Yours etc.,
Vinod C. Dixit
Ahmedabad