Public Platform

Hindu Rashtra, the conflict of civilisations and Le Chatelier’s principle (Organiser, 14-12-2008); God has no religion; it is only for human being. In India, religion has a glorious heritage. Spirituality is the soul of this mighty democratic republic, which also preaches secularism. But a secular nation should not be irreligious, or anti-religious, as it is in purely communistic country. Of late, wars, murders and arsons were let loose in the name of the religion. If the political leaders throw the religion overboard, they will be paving the way for the extinction of India as a nation with a cultural identity. Activities of evangelists, Islamic fundamentalist etc., are in the rise in India. A rapid religious exodus, in the remote rural areas, within India, is observed. It is aggression, in the name of religion. Aggression is required in business not in preaching religion. A deep qualitative change for the worse is taking place in the mind of these elements. Evangelists lure the people (BPL) with food, shelter, and education. So, it is imperative, on the part of the government, to check this religious aggression, which in one way, can be done by providing the people (below poverty line) with food, shelter and education. In India, it is the growth of religions that matters rather than reform. It is the time to deluge India with spiritual ideas rather than socialistic and political ideas. Right now, our country is passing through a very difficult phase, with chaos and distrust among the people, and it will lead to a total catastrophe. What India needs now is psychological unity and spiritual coherence.

—SANJEEB BORA,
Milan Nagar, Lane N, POCR Building, Dibrugarh

The cure for terrorism is virat brihad Hindutva (Organiser, 21-12-2008) The article is very thought-provoking and enlightening. It is the duty of all educationists, intellectuals, political and religious leaders to stand on one platform, to awaken the public and to touch the life of the masses. The future generation should be trained to become a good human being—first, with a national feeling, so that, they can be entrusted with the work of spreading international brotherhood, besides being faithful to their own personal religions. Second, all the kids of the world, irrespective of different caste, creed, religion and nation, possesses the same beauty and innocence. But, they will have to be moulded and guided by the elders and teachers in such a way that they value their own responsibilities towards the humanity as a whole and the nation as well. Thereby a sense of belonging will develop, and subsequently, their maturity will command a respect. This cannot be achieved by merely growing without a cause.

—JAIRAJ SINGH,
Sector 5, Bhopal

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The cure of terrorism is that there should be regular interactions among the students of different schools. This will help them understand the theme of ‘unity in diversity”. As we live in a cosmopolitan society, with different faiths, ideologies, religions, it’s is obvious, initial doubts will be there, but regular interactions amongst them will clear all their doubts, as saying goes, “he who does not believe does not doubt, whereas he who doubts, asks questions that can lead him to believe. This will be a productive effort and if we practice this for 20 years or so, most of our problems will be solved.

—VINEET JHINGAN,
Indi Area, NIIT, Faridabad

Angry nation seeks answers (Organiser, 14-12-2008); The heinous Mumbai terror attack should open the eyes of everyone—those in power or in the Opposition. Prime Minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death, which we are witnessing everyday. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of. Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 crore people?

—SB RAO,
Ayirkanatha, Chennai

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The army, the police and the NSG deserve our gratitude for ending the terrorist siege in Mumbai. Having said that, one wonders how a dozen terrorists could land in Mumbai by sea, walk into two prominent five-star hotels, a restaurant, a hospital and a busy railway terminal with AK-47s and bombs and start firing at innocent civilians. How could a handful of terrorists keep at bay security forces numbering hundreds for 60 hours?

—KPR IYER,
Bangalore

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Al Qaeda = ISI + Ulemas + Paki Elites. All three have to be destroyed by the world in a united way. All these three control Pakistan and its media and are into massive propaganda within Pakistan to fool the common people into believing their story. All three are massively into drug peddling worldwide. All three are into arms peddling and smuggling. All three must be destroyed to destroy Al-Qaeda.

—DP RAJA,
Agraharam Street, Chennai

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We have to purge the tribal areas and all the Pakistan of non-state actors. How do we carry out this purge—by tuthless elimination (like some Sikh Police chief carried out in Indian Punjab). For a start let us eliminate 500 non-state actors (proven or strongly suspected). These can include Dawa, Toiba, Harkat, Jaish, whoever, retired military, ex-ISI, anybody providing arms/training/support to non-state actors. This is what the rest of the world means by “doing enough against terrorism” and this is what we will have to do sooner or later.

—SOMIT CHATTOPADHYAYA,
DLF Club, Enclave-I, Arjun Nagar, Gurgaon

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The strikingly demonstrated power and potential of the emerging phenomenon of the citizen journalist suggests a simple, inexpensive and effective answer to our crying need for ground-level intelligence. Why can’t the constable, who constitutes the bulk of the manpower in the police force, and who lives and works within the community, be equipped and trained.

—SC SHARMA,
Irrigation Colony, Khurja, UP

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Sometimes I wonder when will this world have a day without idiots making conspiracy theories! Once this wicked conspirqcy-makers are taken up in due sincerity, it can be controlled and allowed to grow to the required momentum (again like the Indians did successfully in the case of Punjab terorism). Sure some innocents will suffer. But sure as hell, the bulk of non-state actors and their support system will disintegrate. The more we delay this, the more dangerous the situation will become for us. The sooner we accomplish this, the sooner we shall become accepted as mature members of the world community, relations with India will improve and economic benefits shall flow to the region. Future of Afghanistan will also then improve. The alternative of Pakistan receding into a mullah-controlled Afghan-like situation will diminish.

—SK NEGI,
Railway Road, Rishikesh

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Terror has no heart. But we have to live with it. We need to make some changes in our way of life. We must overcome differences of religion, caste, region, etc., and vote for candidates on merit. We should cooperate with the authorities in maintaining tight security, and inform the police of suspicious characters and activities. Anyone breaking the law—starting from basic traffic violations—should be dealt with severely to drive home the importance of discipline.

—DONALD DCRUZ,
Kollam

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The braveheart fighters fought courageously against the Mumbai terror attack terrorists, who were led by the Mumbai police—at the CST railway station and at the DB Marg Station. In the face of heavy firing from AK-47s, they valiantly fought back with their self-loading rifles, pistols and lathis. And the policemen of DB Marg Station captured a fidayeen alive. The nation should salute these men and the brave chopper pilots who dropped NSG commandos flying perilously close to, and between, high-rise buildings and the fearless firemen who rescued hundreds of people amid heavy firing.

—K. JAYAKKANNAN,
Coimbatore

The Mumbai terror attack was a slap in our face. We cannot blame the government alone because in a big country like India, it is difficult to check every individual entering or leaving a city. Besides, the terrorists were a motivated lot, which was evident from what we saw on November 26—they did not even bother to cover their faces! Let us therefore understand that we cannot stop terror attacks. What we can do is to be more aware of what is going on around us.

—SATYAM TYAGI,
751, Kundewalan, Ajmeri Gate, New Delhi,

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I read with interest the article by Dr Gautam Sen, in which he suggested several concrete steps to root out terrorism. Ironically, the ‘secular’ brigade ridiculed the steps taken by the government and/or suggested by the Opposition, i.e., Salwa Judum, philosophy of ‘an-eye-for-an-eye’, the re-imposition of POTA, releasing sketches of alleged ‘terrorists’, to revamp intelligence systems, Now the ‘secular’ brigade suggests what should be done to fight terror—restructuring, the entire Home Ministry, shut down all mobile phone networks the minute a blast takes place, change the police force form. Don’t transfer the senior police officers every few months. With this kind of people we will not be able to bring the killers to justice. After reading all this I come to the conclusion, which can be summed up in one saying: “Na 100 man tel hoga, na Radha nachegi. So we have to live up with terrorism.

—RAMA KANT GUPTA,
RK House, B-3/23, Ashok Vihar-II, Delhi

Sensationalism and trivialisation (Organiser, 14-12-2008); The over-enthusiasm of writers in twisting the story, result of the press photographers’ over-enthusiasm is eminently avoidable. The media organisations should train their reporters and photographers/cameramen to follow some code of conduct. It is a pity that those who hold high office are not allowed to enjoy even a cup of coffee in private.

—S. VENUGOPALAN,
Chennai

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The needless sensationalism displayed by some sections of the media in covering the Malegaon blast case and the ATS’ inept handling of the investigation are condemnable. The fact is the police have all but forgotten the basic principle of Locard’s Theory—that every criminal leaves a trace at the scene of crime. This helps in collecting vital scientific evidence. During preliminary investigations into the Malegaon case, the police neither preserved the scene of crime nor cared to collect physical evidence.

—NANAD KISHORE GARG,
Sector 35, Haryana

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One wonders whether there is any control on the electronic media, which play multiple roles of police, lawyer, judge, etc. Something should be done to ensure that the news channels do not engage in competitive character assassination. Public memory may be short but persons affected by such vicious reporting can suffer serious psychological scars. Although the print media adhere to norms of ethical reporting, the tendency to go overboard is beginning to show.

—VIRAJ DESHPANDE,
New Delhi

A unique Sangh experiment in village development (Organiser, 21-9-2008); Shri Pramod Kumar has highlighted the achievements of Mohad village in MP. The views of Shri Surender Singh Chauhan to develop one model village in every district of the country is a wise step. But at present, the main problem is that the Sangh work has not reached to the village level. Only few villages are covered under this scheme and there also regular activities are not being performed. The villages are the backbone of Indian economy as 70 per cent population live in the rural areas. Owing to the impact of multinational companies, the agriculture sector has also treading the path of western-style of faming and such the farming community is badly suffering today. It will be in the fitness of things that the villagers who are progressive and are interested in rural development should be sent to see the developed village of Mohad in MP. By doing so, the concept of change in thinking may be possible.

—LAKSHMI CHAND, Bandh, Bhangeri, Solan, HP