MyVoice: Views of our readers 19th Dec 2025

What did the ‘messy’ tour achieve?

This has reference to the editorial: ‘Less Of Messi , More of Shabby VVIP Spectacle’.

The GOAT tour of Messi and his team mates was hijacked by a VVIP culture. Millions were spent to bring the football icon to india and fans spent their hard earned money to buy tickets with skyrocketing prices.

Football lovers in India were waiting to see Messi Magic and their Idol in flesh and blood but what followed was an absolute disaster. Angry fans went into a rampage and tore the seats and hurled bottles at the organisers

Instead of allowing the sporting genius to show some of his jaw-dropping football blows, ,the event was reduced to selfies and VVIP bonhomie ,leaving his fans disheartened. The tour was though a success in Hyderabad ,Mumbai and Delhi with no untoward incidents .Our CM Revanth Reddy has to be applauded for organising the event without a glitch . The big question is: was it necessary to bring the sporting icon to India, spending millions , where ticket prices were costing almost 10 to 15,000 rupees ,just to have a glimpse of him ? What did the tour achieve?

We need to learn something from the way the great genius conducted himself .It was an event marred by political interference and exclusivity. More of a show- off kind by the VVIP culture that exists only in a country like India.

Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

II

The Kolkata reception for Messi proved tremendously disappointing to the adulators of football owing to mismanagement of the event when the VVIPs attempted to grab the limelight ignoring the fans of the game who were waiting to have a glimpse of their hero.

The arrogant overreach of the class is the trend and tradition prevailing in almost all events of sports that must be discouraged in future; be they cabinet ministers and close relatives of the chief minister who generally come in the way of the audience despite hefty fees collected from them. Other Messi events didn’t suffer the ignominy - lucky. As the editorial prudently summed up, Messy and his teammates controlled their emotions and did not object to the bulldozing ‘tactics’ of the VVIPs. Kerala and Goa should have been added to the itinerary of Messy – perhaps TMC Didi fat ego did’t allow this and wanted to take the entire credit for West Bengal.

The crowning glory however was the last stopover at Anant Ambani’s Vantara wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre where Messi spontaneously shared his moments with animal friends, with no VVIP in the midst except the protective glass.

K V Raghuram, Wayanad

US action against Venezuela unbecoming

The America’s militarised acts against Venezuela, a sovereign country are highly condemnable. It’s nothing but violating international law in a brazen manner. Though the acts are camouflaged under the name of war against drugs, the actual aim is to topple the, president, Maduro who is persona non grata for US administration. The UN and international community should ask the USA to stop the unethical and illegal war against Venezuela.

Dr DVG Sankara Rao, Srikakulam

India should watch out for Bangladesh moves

The “July Oikyo Mancho”, an organisation comprising many conservative parties in Bangladesh, which tried to stage a march into Indian High Commission in Dhaka, to demand the return of Sk. Hasina Wazed, the exiled Prime Minister of Bangladesh, who now lives in India and the leader of the National Citizen Party. It described India as a hostile nation and further went on to threaten to ‘sever’ North-East states from the main land India, has in fact created a volatile situation in India’s neighborhood.

These radical elements learnt to have forged an alliance with the extremists in Pakistan which emboldened them to threaten India’s regional security. As of now, Bangladesh has become a launchpad for cross border terrorism, which could lead to seamless infiltration, arms smuggling, Drug- peddling that may lead to destabilisation of border States like West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and other States in North East. To counter these threats, the Government of India, needs to adopt a multi-pronged strategy by strengthening border control mechanism to prevent infiltration and arms smuggling.

R J Janardhana Rao, Hyderabad