My Voice: Views of our readers 22nd july 2023

Nation must hang its head in shame

The video that surfaced in social media depicting two women being stripped and paraded naked by a mob in Manipur is heart-wrenching. It shows in broad daylight the ugly face of ethnic violence and the utter failure of administration there. The nation has hung its head in shame to witness the display of heinous crime in Manipur in the name of fights between groups. That the inhuman incident said to be occurred two months ago could not make the authorities to act all these days until the video got attention now speaks volumes about the failure of law enforcement there. Still worse is that police were said to be present as mute spectators at the time of that incident. It’s high time, the centre would act decisively to take the situation under control in Manipur.

Dr DVG Sankara Rao, Vizianagaram

Hundreds of people lost their lives and thousands were displaced. Despite all these things the BJP which time and again claims the benefits of double engine having same party government both at the Centre and in the state could not do worthwhile to control the situation. Moreover, the ruling party believed in jamming Internet service to control the spread of horrific incidents in the riot torn area into the other areas but it was proved wrong by the video which went viral in social media showing two women were paraded naked that happened on May 4. However, the incident moved the tight-lipped Modi to respond to it. The apex court also strongly responded to it.

Pratapa Reddy Y, Tiruvuru, AP

Manipur ghastly incident is a result of inaction on the part of authorities against the ‘communal’ strife. Since day one, there have been demands for swift action from the authorities concerned to contain violence and bring normalcy to the northeast State. But the PM and his government both at the Centre and in the State simply allowed the violence to continue instead of stopping it with an iron hand. Now the unthinkable happened and the entire world saw how the perpetrators of violence behaved in an inhuman manner. The NDA sarkar at the Centre and in Manipur in the northeast are also responsible for the heinous crime. At the least, the authorities should take up the case on a priority basis and deliver justice to the bereaved families.

For weeks, the long silence maintained by the Prime Minister over the horrors in Manipur had been deafening. However, the PM expressed deep anguish that whatever happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven by giving an assurance that the culprits would not be spared at any cost. He further urged all chief ministers to take strong steps to protect women. By and large, amidst the cacophony, a million-dollar question is will it go beyond tokenism or centre and state act swiftly to bring the culprits to justice soon.

K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad

Civic laxity: People told to stay indoors

It’s strange that whenever it starts raining and city faces flooding, we see the GHMC including Mayor appeal to people to stay indoors. This apart the schools are made to declare holidays and this time around CM declared holiday for government offices and asked private offices to toe in line. Obviously, the authorities aren’t geared to handle. During the recent trip to Europe, we saw rain, but the city of the size of Hyderabad has not come to halt and life was going including traffic movement. Of what use is sending a delegation to foreign countries, just to enjoy and copy something fancy like musical fountain, landscape etc. As a matter any weather going wrong, people are advised not to come out and government thinks it’s the best solution.

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Cheetah deaths: Tragic, need

for better efforts

Apropos the write-up “Why Cheetahs are dying in India” by W Chandrakanth. The growing concern of the death of cheetahs in Kuno National Park is worrisome to all. At the same time, it must be remembered India is no stranger to cheetahs as there were cheetahs that had lived in India, too. Cheetahs - though predators in the African jungles - are vulnerable to other dominant apex predators like lions and leopards. In the Indian situation, the apex predators are in the form of tiger, leopard etc. Wildlife experts are not overtly worried about the casualties of cheetahs after their relocation to KNP - as the animals require time to adjust to the new environment that is somewhat different, in terms of weather, landscape and predatory animals. There must be a regular induction of cheetahs to KNP over a period of time to help stabilise their number, so that they get perfectly established in the India condition.

K R Parvathy, Mysuru