MyVoice: Views of our readers 22nd March 2020

Money is now the backbone of democracy

After Karnataka, now in Madhya Pradesh BJP was successful in destabilising the government. 22 MLAs were kidnapped and held in captivity. It shows anything is possible in democracy through money power. BJP's triumph in toppling government proves that BJP is desperate for power and it is nothing but mass murder of democracy.

Shivaraj Singh's comments that "If a government topples due to its own internal conflict, then we can't do anything .

You can see that we are not in the game to form or topple a government. They {congress} should introspect on what led to this situation". His comments are nothing but fooling the people.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was neither a MP or MLA but was able to poach 22 MLAs from Congress to BJP and was rewarded with Rajya Sabha seat. Maharaja with 22 mates and BJP murdered democratic values .

It is public that MLAs were offered 30 to 35 crores to shift loyalties. Indeed money has become back bone of democracy . The electorate has been cheated. MLAS gets elected on some party and then switch over to another party is a great shame for democracy.

Nowadays politics has become dirty and murky. 'Aaya ram Gaya ram' culture was introduced by Congress itself and now the same party is itself feeling the pain. Nowadays defection is not projected as immoral but is accepted currency of Indian politics.

In Gujarat BJP needs 5 MLAs support to grab extra one Rajya Sabha seat. Just for one Rajya Sabha seat it was able to defect five Congress MLAS.

Now publicly BJP leaders are saying that their next target will be to topple Congress Government in Rajasthan and also the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra. BJP is trying to grab power through back door using bribery and horse trading. This is nothing but mockery of democracy.

Zeeshaan, Kazipet

Stop re-electing defectors

With the resignation of chief minister Kamal Nath before he had to face a floor test in the assembly, the rebel drama in Madhya Pradesh ended. The central party leadership failed to realise the fact that more young leaders must be given opportunities to prove their expertise in governance.

The party leadership continued status quo and failed to recognise that young leaders could renew and revive the party. Its failure to back the winning horse cost it dearly.

Whatever may be the cause for Kamal Nath's downfall, it is time to get rid of the iniquitous political games like defection, poaching and horse-trading. The political developments in MP show the decadence that has affected the political system in India.

Defection, poaching and horse-trading pose a serious threat to the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution. It exposes the dark side of democracy. It is a fact that most of the lawmakers are affluent people and they use their money power to achieve their goals.

They are concerned more with their political gains than with their responsibilities and commitments to the electorates. Such dirty tricks make a mockery of the mandate. It is ironic that political leaders who advocate honesty and integrity stoop to such levels to achieve their goals.

A remedy for this lies only with the electorates. If a legislator knows that he will not be elected again if he behaves in an unethical way, that will serve as the biggest deterrent. Voters must be more alert and they must be prepared to reject unethical lawmakers.

Venu G S, Kollam

DGCA done well

The recent move by DGCA to shut all international airspace for a week in wake of the pandemic is a welcome move. The move is aimed to prevent the spread of pandemic as most of the cases are reported from international arrivals.

The airspace shut down now will help ensure India to extensively focus on quarantine efforts and other COVID related medical relief work.

With this, the world has witnessed yet another massive airspace shutdown since 9/11 twin tower attacks- owing to "Operation Yellow Ribbon" commissioned by FAA then that led to complete shutdown of international airspace.

Further, it is noteworthy that DGCA has asked all the airlines to sanitise their aircraft at least 24 hours a day. As also it has issued a mandate to provide sufficient hand-sanitizers, face masks and gloves to protect from the spread of the virus.

The move is welcome whilst aimed at protecting public health and safety in times of such a crisis. Airlines should extensively collaborate with the airport and local health authorities to take adequate precautionary measures and thus help ensure to contain the spread of the virus.

Varun Dambal, Bengaluru

Muslims and coronavirus

The Muslim religious heads and their political representatives have yet again failed to protect their community from attack for participating in large number on Friday prayers.

They seem to have not learnt from their counter parts in Tamil where the Islamic community heads announced in advance to stop assembling for Friday prayers. No wonder the Muslims have become target from BJP who have been slamming them for not following the Hindu temples which are closed for devotees now.

However on social distancing the PM's appeal has fallen into deaf ears of BJP leaders and other ordinary citizens in particular the so called educated living in big residential colonies.

Soon after the out going Congress announced his resignation, the front runner CM Shivaraj Chouhan, his close aides and large number of supporters went berserk to celebrate their return to power outside BJP office in Bhopal even bursting crackers.

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Time to be mindful

Nature might have needed a vacation

Free from pollution

Free from commutation

So, it created a micro-creature

which changed the modern structure

which reminded us, our culture

The virus had spread like a dragon's fire

which has no cure

Let the handshakes be ceased

Let us and others

be not diseased

Let the meetings be restricted

by being quarantined

Let us follow social distancing

Breaking it has no meaning

as it is the only way of solving

Shivasai Jaishetty

Let's heed to PM's appeal

Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal to all citizens to stay indoors and have Janata curfew - a curfew by the people for the people - is really laudable and shows the foresightedness of the leader.

The call has been welcomed by all including even political leaders who are known for opposing and criticising Modi and his government for each and every move .

Taking into consideration the gravity of the situation leaders have started showing amity and unity to fight against a common enemy setting aside their political rivalry and ideology. This indeed is a good sign.

The PM has requested every body's support and help as much as possible to avoid getting infected by the fatal coronavirus saying the world has never seen a danger as grave as this even during war times.

The PM's call for 'Janata curfew' on March 22 from 7 am-9 pm, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of the house and asking people to sacrifice some days and some time in a way is sure to help in the coming days.

If in case the situations turn grim the 'curfew ' that we the citizens observe can help us give that confidence and restraint to remain at home for days together as may be needed.

Let us not forget - the more we move around and socialise the more we are prone to become a prey to the deadly tentacles of one of the most dangerous virus the world has ever seen in modern times.

M Pradyu, Kannur

Need to overhaul our attitudes towards women

The writer has rightly emphasised the need and urgency to plug the loopholes in our legal processes which are handy for perpetrators of heinous crimes like Nirbhaya convicts to make a mockery of our judiciary by adopting dilatory tactics.(Now, Nirbhaya's soul can rest in peace - THI, 21 March).

Interestingly, the celebration of the hanging of four Nirbhaya convicts by the people and politicians across the country with glee and ecstasy highlights the fact that the execution of the four "monsters in human form" is long overdue and is awaited by the Nation with all disgust and anguish. Some hoped that women would enjoy more safety now onwards.

But the statistics, since prescribing capital punishment for rapists, tell us that the crimes against women are steadily rising. More disturbingly, rape victims are increasingly getting murdered by rapists to wipe out the evidence .

Actually, prescription of capital punishment for rapists has turned out to be counterproductive endangering the lives of rape victims.

It may not be correct to think that the country will get rid of violence against women by opting harsh punitive measures such as capital punishment which is nothing but retributive and vengeful that ignores the factors contributing to mounting crimes against women.

Our movies promote a high dose of patriarchy, misogyny and masculinity where the acts of harassing, stalking, insulting, teasing and torturing women are projected as heroic efforts.

Shamefully, women are shown in films for their anatomy and dependence on men rather than for their brain power and talent who are born without any purpose except giving pleasure to men with no dignity and self-respect.

Easy access to porn content in Internet is dangerously nudging boys to become sexual predators. Our curriculum and parental care fail to make the boys behave respectfully with girls. We are still witnessing the families where the birth of girl child is condemned and female foeticide is practised.

Unless we ensure right atmosphere around children to enable them to be gender sensitive, crimes against women will continue unabated.

The need of the hour is to bring radical changes in the outlook of men towards women so as to make men accept women for their rights and abilities at a par with men. Certainly, this will go a long way in ensuring safety of women by minimizing the crimes against women.

We should strive hard to do everything to enable men to have healthy minds to treat women with dignity and honour where violence against women is a rarity.

Unfortunately, what is happening now is that more and more rapists are produced due to children being brought up in unhealthy atmosphere and those rapists are hanged to death with equal brutality.

Let us work towards a society where people have ethics and morality to respect women and where rapists don't exist at all rather than towards a society where more crimes against women and more hangings of rapists take place.

Raveendra Babu, Hyderabad

The Gogoi imbroglio

A day after former chief justice Ranjan Gogoi's nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the president of India and his acceptance without a rethink or a second thought has only triggered a controversy much to the chagrin of legal fraternity.

In this context, former judges strongly coming out that to avoid conflict of interest, judges in principle must keep their distance from the corridors of power is a fact that cannot be brushed aside as trivial matter.

Even, few retired and serving judges categorically pointing out that Gogoi's decision not only shook people's confidence in judiciary but also tantamount to undermining the independence of judiciary raises a pertinent question for protection of judiciary.

However, unfazed by the developments going around, ex-CJI Gogoi standing firm on his decision by refusing to rethink has left the judges in a quandary.

In fact, Gogoi in his defence strongly coming out that his decision would not only benefit legislature and judiciary if they work together but also help nation-building activity immensely appears not fully convincing.

However, as usual opposition including Congress making a hue and cry over ex-CJ's nomination to the upper house will pose grave threat to the independence of institutions appears only a self goal to score brownie points and nothing else.

Not long ago, it is only Congress during its rule at various periods blatantly set a dangerous precedent by superseding judges and politicised appointments or nomination of judges to Rajya Sabha not once but several times.

It is therefore congress must first understand that the Gogoi was nominated to Rajya Sabha by president of India after taking into account his credentials and not by a political party. Congress or anyone for that matter has a right to question Gogoi's nomination.

Obviously, the controversy arose only because the nomination coming through just four months after his retirement as CJI without a cooling off period.

Further, in the belief that post-retirement jobs may influence pre-retirement judgments to a large extent and also taking into account the underlining principle that judiciary, executive and legislature must be kept separate, Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi in all fairness should have set high standards of probity like he did throughout his judicial career.

K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad