MyVoice: Views of our readers 9th July 2024

Shadow Prime Minister

It is highly commendable that the Leader of opposition, Rahul Gandhi, went all the way to Hathras and consoled the stampede victims. He did not politicise the Bhole Baba-made disaster, but requested the Yogi Baba,CM of UP, to increase the compensation to the victims. The LOP, like a true shadow PM, is doing what the PM should be doing. His visit to flood hit victims of Assom and visit to Manipur to meet the victims of carnage is also praise worthy.

P H Hema Sagar, Secunderabad

Politics of religion kills secularism

This refers to “Discard the hypocritic mask of Secularism” published on July 8. Secularism refers to the separation of religious institutions from the state and public dealings to create a neutral ground, where individuals of different faiths & beliefs can coexist without any particular religion dominating public life. But this is not happening in India because religion is integrated into politics. Political parties support religion-based reservations and want to remove cap of 50% on reservation set by the Supreme Court. As science advances, religion should take back seat, but the contrary is happening. Secular does not mean absence of religion, but coexistence of many of them, but limiting it to personal life of individuals. Some argue that the secularism is in danger without understanding it correctly. Validity of secularism depends on context, cultural norms and individual perspectives.

Dr O. Prasada Rao, Hyderabad

Stop religious donations

I live in a locality where majority of the people are Hindus and it is disgusting to find them asking for vargani (donations) for every festival of theirs. The people of the neighbourhood are forced to make donations of no less than Rs 501 per festival, be it Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Holi or Shivaji Jayanti. If they do not contribute, they are beaten up. On the other hand, shopkeepers are forcibly made to contribute Rs 5,000 per festival. If they do not contribute, their shops are looted and broken. Complaining to the police does not help, as the police themselves are mostly Hindus and are hand-in-hand with the locals. Is there any law to stop this? Christians and Muslims do not go house to house asking for vargani (donations) for their festivals. Then why do a section of Hindus do it?

Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai

Digital Bill should be comprehensive

The Information Technology Act has proved to be insufficient to deal with Cyber crimes of deep fakes and online cheating. The proposed Digital Bill should ensure cyber protection to users, save them from cheating, hacking, frauds, misinformation, fake social media accounts etc. Thanking You

P R Ravinder, Hyderabad.

Free sand policy a repeat of blunder by TDP

The free sand policy was grossly misused by TDP leaders when it was first implemented during 2014-19 so much so that we are witness to several rags to riches stories amongst the yellow shirt batch. Even though it was supposed to be free the TDP leaders dictated terms and conditions as a result of which the end user had to cough up a hefty amount. This had the TDP gain a negative publicity on account of the free sand policy. The State government needs more funds for the implementation of the electoral promises made by the ruling NDA partners. This is one resource that won’t pinch the common man if a rate (less than what it was during 2019-24) is fixed and supplied to all who need sand without questions. Free sand means, hoarding and black marketing is the next step adopted by the leaders of the ruling alliance and none of officials of the Mines department would dare to raid or question them. CM CBN is perhaps trying to keep his rank and file in good humour by allowing them to loot in the name of free sand policy. If there is no control, this policy might once again boomerang on TDP in particular and the NDA in general.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada