Editor,
Much newsprint has been wasted in your reportage about the shenanigans of the Khasi and Garo Hills autonomous district councils. As onlookers we know that its al a power game and there is nothing in these power plays that will benefit the people who voted the MDCs. Every term has seen similar shenanigans enacted by people who are more keen about what’s in it for them rather than about addressing the problems of people who elected them or setting things straight in the area of village governance which is in a shambles. In Hima after Hima there are problems between the Syiems and the Dorbar Shnong/Dorbar Raid regarding allotment of land for different purposes. The traditional heads are today driven by greed and not by a sense of service to the public. The District Councils should have sorted out all this and streamlined village administration in a manner that will not result in land alienation because land is a finite resource and while the population has grown, land has remained the same.
It is also unfortunate that the Councils have on more than one occasion had to look for justice from a court of law because the MDCs can no longer discuss, deliberate and decide as to who has the majority in the House. Why can’t the show of strength be held in civility within the respective Councils? Why was an MDC abducted by the NPP in Garo Hills? Also how can the Congress MDCs partner with those from the BJP to form an Executive Committee? Are the two not diametrically opposite in terms of ideology and cannot see eye to eye on any issue? Just for the sake of power even two opposing parties are willing to come together? This is never heard of in the past. It’s very demoralizing for the people who elected these depraved individuals who are only interested in their power games.
In fact the question to ask now is why have District Councils if all that the MDCs do is to fight and squabble? The people of Meghalaya should speak up and not remain spectators any longer because what is happening with the District Councils is a blot on the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Yours etc.,
PL Nonglait,
Via email
India’s image abroad
Editor,
Hungarian-born billionaire financier George Soros, in an address to the World Economic Forum at Davos said the biggest setback to an open society as a result of the surging tide of nationalism is happening in India, obliquely referring to the Narendra Modi government. In an equally serious tone, a leading business magazine called out Modi’s government as a threat to open society and to the survival of the biggest democracy in the world.
Soros said that nationalism, far from being reversed, made further headway and the biggest and most frightening setback occurred in India where a democratically elected government is intent on creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship. Giving a shot in the arms to climate change activists and protesters who fight authoritarian governments, Soros said he was enthused by rebellions across the world against dictatorial regimes, mostly by young people and most notably taking place at Hong Kong. Soros committed a $1.billion fund to start a global university to fight authoritarian governments and climate change, terming them the twin challenges that could threaten the existence of our civilization.
While India has always given asylum to all irrespective of creed or colour, the Modi government has reversed all this. With the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC, what the BJP-RSS had always believed within the party is now being practiced. This is a blot on the social canvas of the country. At Davos too, the reverberations of people’s resentments could be felt.
Soros, a passionate philanthropist and philosopher is influential in the setting and upsetting of the world order and politics. As of February 2018, he had a net worth of $ 8 billion, having donated more than $ 32 billion to his philanthropic agency, the Open Society Foundations. Though some of the poignant remarks of Soros are acceptable, his comments on the Kashmir issue were out of place as this is India’s internal problem. The intensity of the Kashmir problem cannot be fully gauged by an outsider.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email
Thanks for your concern Mr PM
Editor,
Apropos the news report, “CAA brought to correct historical injustices, fulfill promises: PM” (ST Jan 29, 2020), I express my sincere thanks to Prime Minister Modi for having expressed deep concern for Christians who were being persecuted from time immemorial since the time of Nero in the first century. About Afghanistan, it being thousands of kilometers away from Meghalaya, my knowledge of Christians being persecuted in that country is limited. Even so, it is good that Christians are included too. On Pakistan and Bangladesh what I gather from the traders at the border haats at Borghat, is that they don’t wish to discuss religious persecution. By the way, I also thank the government for having continued with the tune, “Abide with me” in the Beating the Retreat event. In the days of Caesar Tiberius of the Roman Empire and in the British Raj with Jallianwala Bagh still ringing in our ears, only the likes of Gandhi could express a liking for the hymn by a Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte put to tune by William Henry Nominal another British citizen. Christians like me seldom sing it. To invite God to stay with us unless we prove worthy of his presence is not right.
Yours etc.,
W Passah,
Via email