Editor,
It is evident that the coming together of the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Telangana- Mamata Banerjee, M.K.Stalin and K.Chandrashekar Rao respectively to attempt to defeat the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre in 2024 is driven by personal ambition and the political atmosphere in the respective states rather than a commitment to national interests. They must realise that the front each one wants is best suited to their own states than to the general needs of India.
As for Mamata Banerjee, the crushing defeat that she inflicted on the Modi-led BJP in the state in the Assembly elections has made her to position herself as a national leader and a challenger to PM Modi. In her idea of a front, the Congress will be excluded and a few regional parties will come together. Stalin and KCR also want to convince the people of their states that they have the potential to play a larger role in national politics.
The three leaders coming together are the heads and CMs of three different states. As such their alliance won’t create an electoral impact. Such an alliance does not have the potential to secure additional votes. As these parties are more powerful in the respective states and do not have much influence in other states, they cannot succeed in convincing the voters of other states. It is difficult to predict the electoral prospects of the alliance. We may get a clear idea about it after the results of the Assembly polls currently underway are out.
Yours etc.,
Venu GS,
Kollam
Unity or homogeneity?
Editor,
In a country like India, no issue that concerns or triggers the religion of any individual or group is ever a simple matter. In a recent incident six teenaged Muslim girls from a government run college in Karnataka’s Udupi district were barred from entering the college as they were wearing head scarves- hijab. A small issue that could have been easily tackled between the students and college authorities ultimately spread like wild fire due to videos going viral. The incident further accelerated as several other educational institutions in Karnataka also started stopping their Muslim students from wearing the head scarves.
The above action was justified on grounds that it is done to maintain equality and uniformity within the classroom premises. But the majority opinion is that this action will rather create a feeling of hostility and discrimination among the young minority minds who will be the future face of India. This issue is further worsened because of instigating statements of political leaders who tried to politicise the entire issue for their personal agenda.
In a classroom where children are encouraged to sow the first seeds of education, where they are taught about the negative repercussions of discrimination and separatist feelings, where they read and understand the words ‘secularism’ and ‘religious tolerance’, such outrageous actions will only scar their thought process and tend to divide them from their fellow mates, their friends and their own people.
When a wall made of caste and religious differences is created between two individuals, it takes years to dismantle. The pertinent question that this issue evokes is whether equality or unity can come only through homogeneity. Can only people of the same kind be said to conserve unity? What about those people who are of different races, languages, cultures and religions that India represents but who still stand together? Is that not the unity that India needs – a unity where people can converge on issues and rise above language, caste and creed?
Yours etc.,
Ritika Das
Indraprastha College For Women (IPCW)
University of Delhi
Meghalaya still controlled by Assam
Editor,
I was amused to read the report, “Coal trader-ultra nexus is old allegation: Acting DGP” (ST Feb 19, 2022). The Acting DGP is trying to defend the indefensible but that’s only to be expected. When has a civil servant ever accepted that he/she could be wrong? That requires some amount of humility and soul searching which is not the attribute of a police officer or a bureaucrat. The Acting DGP claims that 90% of FIRs filed against illegal coal mining and transportation are by the police themselves. Does the Acting DGP expect us to believe that an FIR is everything? Let her inform the public about the current position of those FIRs. Have the cases ben enquired into? What were the findings? Are these state secrets that cannot be divulged to the citizenry? Out of the 90% of FIRs filed what percentage have been investigated; how many of those cases are charge-sheeted and how many criminals who mined coal illegally and the truck owners who transported the contraband coal have been arrested? Will the Acting DGP be more precise rather than just rubbishing the allegations that there is a nexus between the underground outfits (read mafia) and the coal mine owners?
Let me remind the Acting DGP who has been away from the State for a long time that the police in Meghalaya are never held accountable for failing to convict criminals. I can name several cases including the one where a police constable himself was murdered in Ri Bhoi for daring to prevent illegal coal transportation. What about the fake encounter where Cherishterfield Thangkhiew the former HNLC General Secretary was killed? Has the case arrived at any reasonable conclusion by the Enquiry Committee? This is already the 6th month. Who is delaying the enquiry? How many murder cases have been closed for want of evidence? Why is the Investigation Branch of Meghalaya Police not able to reach anywhere? Every day coal trucks are plying and carrying coal that is illegally mined but police are unable to arrest the culprits.
The worse case scenario is that of the poor miners from Assam who came to work in a coal mine in Shallang, West Khasi Hills and died of asphyxiation inside the mine. Every time it’s the coal miners who are blamed when they are only poor labourers coming to work to earn their livelihood. How can the police of West Khasi Hills not know of the illegal coal mining when trucks daily come from there through the highway and sometimes through forest routes on their way to Assam. Sometimes they take the route via Garo Hills to Bangladesh.
It is a fact that Ms Nongrang and her team had shown great courage and dedication during those dark days when Meghalaya was under the grip of insurgency and for that we are grateful to her. How we wish she could head the Meghalaya Police today. But no, she can’t do that because she is only holding the fort until the man from Assam comes and takes over as DGP. Meghalaya will always be subservient to Assam when it comes to appointment of DGP. What’s the point of having a separate state for 50 years and being dictated by Assam?
Yours etc.,
Jubanlak Lyngdoh,
Via email