MyVoice: Views of our readers 27th October 2024

Pseudo secularism of INDIA bloc

Sub: Bold Talk: ‘Pseudo secular rant against CJI’ (October 26, 2024). Writer V Ramu Sarma gave his mind on the extremely negative and vituperative mentality being promoted by the members of the opposition with an avid notion to promote controversy and contradiction in society. This attitude on the part of the lawmakers can be very effortlessly understood as “negativity” seems to be their hallmark of expression in all their doing against the government.

There is strong sense of calculated discrimination against the majority Hindu community that is evident by the INDI group. The ludicrous and preposterous allegation against the CJI for seeking divine guidance too fall in such category of wanton and selective narration against Hindus and Hinduism, by the lot having become incorrigibly pro-Muslim and pseudo-secular.

–S Lakshmi, Hyderabad

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“Pseudo secular rant against CJI" by V Ramu Sarma well reflects his righteous anger. He certainly presented a well-supported argument. What should be bothering us all is how are we to understand secularism in India? We are sure we are not following any current definition that is prevalent in the world. No definition stands out in our country? Does it mean we have no religion or all religions? Does it mean faith in God or no faith in God? Should people in high offices have freedom in these matters or their freedom is restricted? Just as the High and Mighty inserted "secular'' in the Constitution will somebody equally High and Mighty define our secularism for clarity? In the meantime, let secularism find similarity with a famous saying, "Socialism is like a hat that has lost its shape because everyone wears it."

–Dr J Bhagyalakshmi, Madanapalle

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The needless rant against the CJI over his appeal to God Almighty to show a way out in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi imbroglio was unnecessary. Any Indian knows for sure that the Babri masjid was built on an existing Sri Rama temple in Ayodhya, and the status quo ante has been restored in the verdict. The wicked mentality of the MPs in the opposition camps against the judiciary, and the Hindus is owing to the overt affinity they seem to have with the Muslim community to be their assured vote bank – sadly a section of the Hindus too fall prey in joining the group. The divisive politics of the Congress is to weaken the Hindu society even further by seeking a caste census that the party has been feverishly demanding over and over again.

– K R Venkata Narasimhan, Madurai

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There is nothing ‘honourable’ about the opposition MPs, to be addressed thus. Their utterances and behaviour on the floor of the House put even seasoned rowdies to shame – no wonder the majority of Members of the Parliament have criminal records. They have no national goals or interest before them for discussion except to highlight the party stand that could be diametrically opposite to the country's long-term dream; and even amounting to side with enemy countries in promoting their agenda.

No wonder this disgusting mindset on the part of the opposition was played out against the CJI when he had sought some divine guidance in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case as any believer would have done. What people should understand is the reality that CJI or any top judge is a raw human being like you and me; and there is nothing extraordinary to be linked to Artificial Intelligence.

Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party using a cuss word against the CJI is highly inappropriate and condemnable because a retired CJI is free to come out with his feelings of frustrations during one's career as judge is nothing astounding. Many erstwhile judges like MC Chagla in their autobiography have revealed so many things about their personal trauma and other basic emotional aspects confronted during their judicial career.

Opposition MPs, having been elected by the Indian voters, therefore cannot be behaving as anti-nationals, standing in the way of development and progress of the country. They cannot always be Muslim advocates for the sake of vote bank politics when it comes to needlessly defending Waqf amendments that are in the pipeline.

K V Raghuram, Wayanad

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The writer V Ramu Sharma pointing out that MP Ramgopal Yadav's unsavoury remarks on Chief Justice of India (CJI) Chandrachud just because CJI invoked God to show the path in the Ramjanmabhoomi--Babri Masjid case are hurtful is absolutely correct. As the write-up dealt in detail about the habitual violent conduct and behaviour of members of Congress and its INDI bloc time and again by jumping to a conclusion and creating a ruckus without reason that has been only disrupting the smooth functioning of the house invariably whenever it is in session is a grave concern. In this context, a lawmaker stirring a political storm in a tea cup by dragging CJI wantonly seems only to undermine the CJI's spirituality just because he is a practicing Hindu. Not long ago, CJI came under fire by pseudo secularists just because he had invited the PM for a puja at his residence which in fact is purely a personal affair having no connection with duties performed as CJI. Despite this, it is sad that certain lawmakers continue to behave insensibly. It is more shocking that Congress and other opposition parties are keeping silent instead of condemning it. Further, the escalating attempts by the so-called pseudo secularists are to subvert the judiciary through calculated pressure and misinformation by lamenting on judicial decisions and then vilifying those divergent from their narrative.

K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad

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Politics is the last resort of the scoundrels, said Bernard shaw. It holds good even today. Hindu religion, its people, its text, Hindu priests and pandits, Hindu culture are more under attack of late by politicians and their goondas. They have no guts to attack Muslim or Christian religion. Minority votes are important for them. Also, minorities get more preferences from the pseudo secular government. Consolidation of Hindu votes still remains a Herculean task.

– Sravana Ramachandran, Chennai

Will symbolic changes mean speedier justice?

This refers to the editorial "Open-eyed Lady Justice must uphold Constitutional Justice" (26 October). The unveiling of the new Lady Justice has been presented as part of India's decolonization effort, suggesting that justice will now be delivered with open eyes and the Constitution in hand. However, in adopting this new representation, we seem to have overlooked that Lady Justice is not a colonial figure but rather one rooted in ancient civilizations. Her origins trace back to the Egyptian goddess Maat and the Greek goddess Themis, later depicted by the Romans as Justitia, a symbol universally recognized today.

If New India aimed to move away from foreign icons, it might have considered indigenous symbols. However, figures like Yama and Shani, respected in Hinduism as symbols of justice and punishment, were perhaps seen as unsuitable. Instead, they chose a goddess-like figure with a crown and the Constitution in hand, rather than a sword. Like it or not, Rahul Gandhi’s use of the Constitution as a symbol may have influenced the Supreme Court to adopt this change.

The question remains, however: why was the blindfold, a powerful symbol of impartiality, removed? Traditionally, the blindfold signified that justice is administered without prejudice, applying the law equally to all. Regardless of criticisms aimed at "pseudo-secularists," especially the Congress, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and his colleagues are individuals who may follow their own faiths. But in their judicial role, their guiding principle should be their conscience, akin to a divine standard they must uphold. Furthermore, the CJI should avoid public comments on such matters. Imagine if the judgment in the Ram Temple property dispute had favored the opposite side, and the CJI had made similar remarks. How would BJP leaders have reacted?

– N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

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I wish to conjure the Goddess of Justice installed in the Supreme Court and the morning prayer to God by the CJI invoking the path to be shown on the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid (RJB BM) issue for which he invited criticism from a Member of the Parliament. The CJI said that if one would believe in God, He would show path of light. Though the term God becomes abstract, in the true sense it becomes an invocation to the inner conscience and the super consciousness to adhere to the Truth and justice at all cost or come what may, in a time when the rulers may wield all means of power to drag the Justice to their favour. When Soloman became the king after his power and conscientious father David, the former known to be a man of wisdom prayed to His God at the launching of his governance seeking the wisdom to rule the vast multitude of people with impartiality and Justice. No matter whether the Goddess of Justice is attired in western clothes erstwhile or of late in sari but clearly the sword is replaced by the Constitution and it means a lot as the Law and Justice were enshrined therein to be upheld at all costs without fear or favour. Then the CJI had perhaps in his inner self sought path of guidance on Justice which has true meaning for true Justice beyond influences.

– Dr T Ramadas, Visakhapatnam

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We Indians, both as a nation and society tend to pay too much attention to symbolism and optics and fail to see the reality of the situation. Would the change in the symbol of justice without the blindfold do anything to improve the justice delivery system in India? According to reports, there are around 5 crore cases pending in the Indian course and often many cases continue for generations without reaching the hearing stage, forget the judgements. The road to justice is long and costly and is heavily biased in favour of those with deep pockets who can afford to fight them for long periods of time.

Therefore, the poor of the nation simply cannot afford to fight for their rights. As a result, they get trampled over. Would Lady Justice without blindfold do anything for them? Or for the thousands of undertrials languishing in prison without hope of a reprieve? These are the issues which should bother us. Not whether lady justice is blindfolded or not!

– Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

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With the unveiling of the new statue of Lady Justice in the SC, nothing will change for the betterment of the masses and the nation (Open-eyed Lady Justice must uphold Constitutional Justice, THI dated 26th October). To be precise, the laws won't get changed, the mindset of people who commit crimes won't get altered, the number of judges won't increase,

the competency and efficiency of our revered judges and those of advocates pleading cases won't get enhanced and due to all these reasons the snail's pace of the working of the Apex Court won't improve. Lakhs of litigants will go on waiting for the proper and the timely delivery of the justice and still 'JUSTICE DELAYED WILL REMAIN JUSTICE DENIED.'

–Dr Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

Call to procreate more is absurd

AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu and TN CM M K Stalin have given a call to the population of their respective states to procreate more. Naidu may have made the remark keeping in mind the state’s greying population, but the comment made by his counterpart from Stalin reveals a broader anxiety with a problematic aspect of the impending delimitation exercise.

Delimitation involves the affixation of the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in each state for parliamentary and assembly seats based on the size of the population. The problem though is that the success of population control has been uneven in India, with the southern states doing much better than those in the north. This effectively means that the south by virtue of having lower population growth may end up with lesser political representation once the new delimitation process is completed.

Any state having to suffer in terms of political representation on account of achieving success in population control would be a travesty of justice. The solution, however, cannot be a call by political leaders to the people to procreate with abandon. Such a measure is absurd, even dangerous.

What is required is a patient, representative discussion by all stakeholders to find a way around this discriminatory feature of delimitation. The failure to do so could worsen ties among the republic’s regions. This, in turn, would put further strain on an already enfeebled federal edifice.

– N Sadhasiva Reddy, Washington

Fuelling blood-thirst

"Once weapons were manufactured to fight wars. Now wars are manufactured to sell weapons" This is what Arundhati Roy, the celebrated Booker-Prize winning Indian English novelist said about how wars are created and how weapons are used.

We cannot help but endorse the view of Arundhati Roy in the context of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing war between Israel and Iran. Whether it is the Russia-Ukraine war or Israeli-Iran war, these wars are being fought with the most advanced missiles supplied by the western countries. These genocide wars are slaughtering thousands of innocent people, the young and the old, children and the sick, destroying properties and valuable infrastructures of these countries. Wars are the monsters born out of gloomy, greedy, egoistical, blood-thirsty, unethical, Machiavellian, exploitative minds directed by the sinister motive of expansionism.

Unfortunately, the western countries, instead of making sincere efforts to end these wars and bring peace, are supporting these countries, supplying the most powerful weapons to continue wars. U.N. O is almost rendered helpless with its failures.

Despite the protests and demonstrations in the US, UK, Italy, Spain, France, Indonesia, South Africa, the Philippines and many countries in the world against the wars and supply of missiles to the warring countries, the western countries remain irresponsible, not endeavoring to bring the warring countries to the table of dialogue for the peaceful settlement of their conflicting issues. Western countries appear to be fishing in troubled waters. It's time to silence the guns. It's time to hear the voice of humanity. It's time to respect other country's national integrity and sovereignty. It's time to shed animosity and hatred. It's time to drive away the evil of devastating war. It's time to welcome peace.

Dr Venugopala Rao Kaki, Kakinada

India can help end wars & conflicts

India has come forward to mediate between Ukraine and Russia and also in West Asia to end wars and for restoration of peace. The warring nations should come forward to accept India's stance. Former Prime Minister of England David Cameron expressed his confidence that Indian PM Narendra Modi alone is capable of bringing a political solution with his peace process amicably. Modi visited Ukraine and Russia and advised them to arrive at a solution by discussion across the table. But none has evinced keen interest for this overture. Similarly in West Asia conflict in which neither Israel nor its opponent nations deeply involved in attacking and counter attacking appear to be uninterested for amiable truce but enormously foregoing their army, ammunition, properties and importantly civilians. Powerful nations like America, France, England, Australia, Japan maintaining stoic silence when endless wars are threatening to lead to another world war, is quite incomprehensible. The purpose of United Nations Organisation is utterly defeated.

– N S K Prasad, Hyderabad

Indian veg diet is a balanced intake

The Indian vegetarian diet, especially the Thali, is a nutritious and a balanced diet. It includes all the essential macro and micronutrients, is gut healthy and heart healthy .Our Indian diet is largely Plant based and is wholesome with cereals, pulses, lentils, fruits and vegetables. They provide all the essential nutrients and are easy to digest. Additionally 2023 was declared as The Year of Millets .Millets like Ragi, Jowar, Bajra, Fox Tail are known as Superfoods. The warm and tropical Indian climate is suitable for growing millets and they require less water and irrigation .India is the largest producer of millets. Jowar and Bajra are consumed in large parts of India as they have a low glycemic index and are nutritionally superior .Pulses are leguminous crops ,which are rich in Plant proteins and they make the Soil rich in Nitrates.

Thus they help in Sustainable farming . India's food practices are diverse and each region respects the rich biodiversity and our tradition. WWF 2024 reports that the Indian Thali is an example for sustainability and is a role model for the world to follow. Animal based diet followed by rest of the World leads to loss of biodiversity, ecological imbalance and increased greenhouse emission. Moreover, animal diet is rich in saturated fats and cholesterol. Animal protein is now being substituted by Plant Proteins like Soya beans and Pulses .Indian Superfoods and Indian vegetarian diet should be embraced and healthier food habits be developed. This can also reduce the environmental impacts of consuming foods which are based on animal resources.

– Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

Focus on spurt in diarrhoea cases

There should be a special focus on public health particularly in tribal areas in this season. The cases of diarrhoea are being reported in increased numbers than before across the state of Andhra Pradesh. The tribal areas are prone to different types of fevers. The more prevalence of anemia, malnutrition and lack of access to medical services in those areas make things worse for the people with added acute illness. This year the abnormal levels of temperatures with more humidity and erratic rainfall have fuelled the spread of viruses.

So, the government should take a comprehensive approach in addressing public health issues. The ground level co-ordination among various departments is the need of hour. The quick reporting of likely contagious disease at the beginning will help the authorities get prepared with preventive plans and stop it from turning to an epidemic. There is a saying in epidemiology i.e., it’s better to stamp the spark first than to call the fire brigade later. As the diseases cannot be swept under carpet, the early recognition, timely treatment and comprehensive action for prevention will help the cause. The government should carry out regular door-to-door public health survey, monitoring, medical camps, chlorination of water and mass treatment for malaria in prone areas. The mobile ambulances should be kept ready near to the habitats, which don't have road connectivity.

– Dr DVG Sankara Rao, Vizianagaram