Advantage INDIA Bloc in Bihar

There is both unity and clarity in the INDIA Bloc as regards Bihar among the RJD, Congress, Left parties and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahani. Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD will head the coordination committee, which will oversee all other committees including the campaign committee and those dealing with publicity and social media. Bihar has seen a flurry of Samvidhan Bachao Sammelan meetings over the past few months, in a clear indication that the Congress is keen to be counted again in the state. While each of these events was addressed by Rahul Gandhi, the focus significantly has been on specific caste groups in a state where caste coalitions can swing elections one way or the other.

The last such event was

focused on the Nonia and Kumhar castes. The focused outreach has drawn the attention of political observers, who see this as a serious attempt by the Congress to identify with these backward communities and position itself as the party that speaks for them and their aspirations. With this the INDIA bloc is strongly placed in Bihar, which will help them win the next assembly elections that are a few weeks away.

Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai

Modi has insulted people of Tamil Nadu

Obviously, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark that “some people have a habit of complaining without reason and keep crying about things. Let them cry” in the context of denial of funds to Tamil Nadu while he was in the state did not go down well with the people, who felt humiliated. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin asked for funds for the people and not for himself or his party. Perhaps the top leader is intellectually bankrupt and incapable of weighing his words and knows only to speak like that. People of Tamil Nadu, who priortise self-respect above everything else and associate themselves with valour took his comment as a slight. Modi’s use of the word ‘crying’ in an imperious voice and an overbearing tone without showing discernment in his choice of word was unbecoming of a Prime Minister. He was really insulting to the people of Tamil Nadu. Stalin did not let the insulting remark go uncontested. Referring to the ‘crying for funds’ remark, he refreshed the top leader’s memory of what he had said on the appropriation of funds when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Modi had then stated that states were not beggars. He also accused the then union government of being partisan in allocation of funds to states. Can Modi now place his hand on his heart and say that there is no differential treatment by his government? Following M.K. Stalin’s clarification that he was not crying but demanding the state’s rights and that he is quite within his rights to ask for what is rightfully his state’s, Modi should stand corrected and make amends and avoid offending the sensitivities and sensibilities of the people of Tamil Nadu.

G. David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Judicial caution is the need of the hour

This is about how lucky lawyers are. Doctors save patients, while lawyers shave clients of their belongings. There was a report that 74 families control the appointment of judges. Most of the judges are related to one another. By entertaining the argument that mosques and other religious endowments that go back to the 17th and 18th centuries may not be able to produce proof of being Waqf, the court ends up defeating the very purpose of the Act’s amendment.

C.K.S. Ramani 1914, Chennai-40

Politicos should stop attacking judiciary

It is condemnable that the BJP has upped the ante against the recent judicial pronouncements, fixing timelines for giving presidential consent, albeit in a veiled manner. The anger expressed by Dube, in his remarks, on judiciary, evidently shows the authoritarian tendency of BJP and its intolerance for an independent judiciary. The BJP needs to do some soul-searching and discipline its MPs and leaders to stop attacking the judiciary in the interest of true democracy.

P.H. Hema Sagar, Secunderabad