Editor,
The slogan, ‘Chowkidar Chor Hain’ had gained notoriety in the last Lok Sabha Elections. Unbeknownst to most of us the repercussions of the refrain did not happen in Delhi but somewhere else where it was least expected. Some have with hindsight proclaimed it as an unheeded prophecy, and its gone viral on WhatsApp, but that’s another story. The real story is actually where it happened, how it happened which as we shall see is totally unrelated to its origin and the political ramifications that the original slogan sought to achieve.
The story goes like this. A person was hired and appointed to ring a bell in a local church. After some time he got tired and bored of the monotonous chimings of the belfry. The jingling of coins in the collection box instead caught his attention and it sounded good. So he decided that instead of ringing the bell he would be better off ringing the tiller instead. He rang it once; he rang it twice and when no one noticed, the chap decided to ring it as merrily as often as he could. It was as easy as milking a cow and at the end of 7 years, lo and behold he had milked his employers of more than three and a half crore rupees! Merciless fate then stepped in and he was nabbed with his hand in the till!
An FIR was lodged. It created a sensation. The police accompanied by the media went to his house to arrest him. Handcuffed and about to be led away, the thief had a last request to make. He asked everyone to join him in prayer and they obliged. The posse of cops dutifully doffed their berets, closed their eyes and bowed their heads in deference to the Almighty. The accompanying media also closed their eyes, switched off their cameras and obediently joined in the prayer. Posterity was thus robbed of witnessing a historical poignant moment when the strong arm of the law; the vigilant whistle blowers of society and a detained crook all came together to entreat the Lord over loot stolen from his Holy House. And to think of the injustice of it all when people accuse us of being a community with no sense of humour!
Yours etc.,
Name withheld on request
Kashmir: people are important; not land
Editor,
August 6 was indeed a BIG day for every Indian. The dream of “Akhand Bharat” is finally getting fulfilled it seems. But let’s just wait for a minute, think for a second and realise this – that it’s been over 48 hours that the people of J&K are living in a nightmare. It’s a miserable and chaotic life inside their homes without internet, television and even landline phone connections. Everyone’s talking about the scrapping of Article 370 and 35A and about the land of Kashmir; of buying plots and setting up industries and factories, but no one, literally no one is talking about the people of Kashmir. The innocents don’t even know what is happening in their own motherland. The whole of India is rejoicing but poor Kashmiris have no clue about what has happened in the last 48 hours.
The motive for scrapping Article 370 seems like it’s only about the ‘land’ of Kashmir and not the ‘people’ of Kashmir.
I support the scrapping of Article 370 which was anyway a temporary arrangement and which had to be scrapped one day or the other but the Kashmiris aren’t temporary; they are permanent, their life and their rights are permanent and the way Modi Sarkar did it all at once by saying that there are security threats and cancelling the pilgrimage, to Amarnath and deploying thousands of army personnel and arresting the leaders of the regional parties of J&K who were elected by the people of that state has left behind a messy situation that is enough to create panic, chaos, confusion and tension in the Hill State.
Your’s etc.,
Nitesh Deb
Via email
China meddling in Indian affairs!
Editor,
Close on the heels of bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories, China came out with a weird and provocative statement that converting Ladakh into a Union Territory was unacceptable to them. The Chinese urged New Delhi to avoid ‘unilateral actions’ in Jammu and Kashmir. The Chinese hypocrisy is well evident as they don’t see the simmering protests against them (Chinese government) going on in Hong Kong for nine weeks now. Intriguingly, the Chinese government, without taking the plank out of their own eye, is hurrying to remove the speck from our eye.
China opposes India for ostensibly putting Chinese territory in the western section of the border under its administration, which affects China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. However, India’s response was quick and sharp saying J&K reorganisation was purely an internal matter concerning the territory of India. It may be noted that China has kept the border with Ladakh ‘live’, particularly in recent years, resulting in on-and-off needling along this sector of the 4,057 km Line of Actual Control that stretches from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese and Indian troops have had minor run-ins along the Ladakh border since 2013.
In an apparent retaliation to the Indian government’s move to bifurcate J&K, China has refused to grant visas to a group of Indian pilgrims who were to proceed to Tibet for the Kailash Manasarovar yatra on Wednesday. Thus, it is clear that China is stoking anger and hatred against India in collusion with Pakistan. India, therefore, must handle this international situation in a strategic manner.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email
ECI should buck up!
Editor,
The Election Commission of India has recently launched Common Services Centres (CSCs) for the benefit of voter verification process. The move is aimed at helping the voters to register, modify or delete the electoral names through a single contact center. ECI should also ensure that such a voter verification process through CSCs is carried as an ongoing activity throughout the year and offer hassle free services similar to Passport registration process.
Further, it is now high time that ECI invests much of its time to update the electoral rolls and also enhance the features of the existing Voter Id card system. The move may be done to enable smooth transition of addition, transposition and deletion of names from the electoral rolls in a seamless manner.
ECI may also adopt the best practices implemented by other electoral bodies such as United Nations Electoral Assistance Division into the existing electoral registration process. ECI should surge ahead with extensive voter registration awareness drive through various channels including print and social media and involve active voter participation in such a process.
Yours etc.,
Mr Varun Dambal
Bangalore – 72