It’s all political
To say that the women clamouring to enter the sacred Sabarimala temple are doing so out of a sense of piety is ludicrous. Why should entering the temple be viewed as a forum for activism? (Sabarimala: Activist Trupti Desai cancels plan to visit shrine after police deny protection). Hindu traditions should be respected as are those beliefs of other religions. Let’s not fool ourselves – If it had been a matter related to another religious belief, the words “Hindu terrorism” and “intolerant” would have been waved under our noses. Is it because Hindus have been respectful all these years that such allegations are leveled against them? – Amu Garfield
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It is a known fact that whenever there is any atmospheric disturbance, all the senior leaders of the BJP stand in queue to defend the government and leaders who are answerable (BJP IT chief’s response to Rahul Bajaj proves the party’s inability to handle dissent). So we must say “mera Bharat mahan” and sleep till the next dose by another daring citizen comes by. But keep your eyes and ears open for news of the Enforcement Directorate or any investigation agency running from pillar to post to pounce on Rahul Bajaj. – Praveen Sakhuja
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If one goes by the vote share of the BJP against the forfeiting of deposit by the Congress and the CPI (M), it is not a no-confidence against the BJP (Trinamool’s bye-election sweep is a no-confidence motion on BJP’s NRC plans in Bengal). Rather, it is the hooliganism of the TMC, aided by the state machinery, that defeated the BJP. This is also not a no-confidence on the NRC. The author is a rank fundamentalist and is distorting the by-poll results. – Jambunatha Radhakrishnan
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That the BJP is the political wing of RSS is well known. RSS has been the biggest critic of Mahatma Gandhi and this is what prompted Godse to assassinate Gandhi (Gandhi visited RSS shakha in 1947, praised absence of divisive feelings in workers: Mohan Bhagwat). Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had recommended a ban on the RSS and said that its ideology would not be good for the country.
Malegaon blast accused, Pragya Thakur, should not have gotten the ticket from BJP. It appears that BJP had to give her the ticket because of pressure from the parent organization. Regarding her comments about Hemant Karkare and Godse, PM Modi had said he would never forgive her. But since no action was taken regarding her earlier statement, she was encouraged to express her thoughts about Godse further in the Parliament. These two incidents clearly show her mindset and ideology. I feel that the BJP should expel her from the party and send the message that it is fighing terrorism. – Narendra Agarwal
Ailing economy
India’s economic growth will keep falling to 1% and the people still will not revolt (India’s economic growth falls to 4.5% in July-September quarter – the slowest in over six years). Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no idea what to do. The IAS officers are corrupt don’t do any work. If one goes to them with any work, they won’t do it. They get paid for the status quo and the reason India remains backward. Modi doesn’t listen to anyone, even when he has two brilliant minds like [Raghuram] Rajan and [Subramanian] Swamy. Basic common sense is required. We import cheap stuff from China and nothing of quality is made in India. In the past 20 years, no government has done anything to really improve manufacturing jobs. This needs a focused approach. – Manoj Kumar
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There are undoubtedly some favourable points for the current regime. The government has a massive mandate – unprecedented in recent times, softer crude prices, lack of scope for coalition politics, improvement in ‘ease of doing business’ ranking and an opportunity to tap the gains from global pains of the ongoing US-China trade war. But to have a sluggish economy (The Weekend Fix: Why the current economic slowdown is unique in India’s history plus 10 more reads) amidst such a scenario requires an overhaul of the causes and the remedies. We may need to invest more time and thought on this pressing issue. – Ramana Gove
Crime and punishment
Most of the police and lawyers in the country are not trustworthy. Only people with no integrity choose a career in that field, so citizens avoid going to them (In six charts: The state of justice in India). Even though they know the truth, they only want to make money from those on the wrong side and so, mask the truth. This happens all the time. –
Jai Kumar Davuluri
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The situation of prisoners all over the country may be almost similar to prisons of Rajasthan (In pictures: The woeful state of prisons in Rajasthan – and a hopeful alternative). According to media reports, there are several people languishing in the jails for decades without any judgement on their case. The government should come up with a policy for such cases – either the cases should be dealt with speedily or the prisoners should be released. – Narendra Agarwal
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Rapists should be publicly hanged and to allow this, the law should be amended immediately. Otherwise, I am afraid we will fail to stop recurrence of such heinous crimes. – Kanchan Chakrabarti
Miscellaneous comments
Your article on Hockey India says the following: “What happens if the government stops supporting the sport or the Naveen Patnaik government doesn’t come back to power after its current tenure ends or the 73-year-old chief minister isn’t fit enough to continue and the next person isn’t interested in sports promotion. In such a scenario, Hockey India would probably be left with no backup plan as [it has]...shown little inclination about developing other venues.” (One sport, one venue: Why Hockey India keeps going back to Bhubaneswar for all major events). Did you not give a second thought while writing this about a state government and its chief minister? Are you a soothsayer or do you write articles based on your speculations? How do you know that the CM won’t be fit enough after the end of the current tenure? Lastly, the city has not become a sports center for hockey and all other sports out of someone’s pity or sympathy. The city has fought for it. People have put their heart and labour to make it happen. And we will host another one, you will see. Hope you will not make such irresponsible statements while writing about big events. – Pramit Mohanty
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It is certain that the government is planning something to reduce the retirement age (There is no proposal to reduce retirement age of government employees from 60 to 58 years: Centre). But it is getting delayed as it will also affect the IAS ‘babus.’ If the IAS babus get exemption, it will be announced immediately. After all, the country has been mortgaged to them. – P D Amarnath