Letters to the Editor

Last Straw

The long awaited and much talked about assembly elections of three states of Northeast Indian states, mely Meghalaya, Tripura and galand, are over and results are out with a clearly indicating saffron upsurge. The results further showed total rout of Leftists and Congress. The only face-saving result for Congress is achieved in Meghalaya, as in the other two states, it drew blank. Tripura, one of the two forts remaining in the Leftist citadel, fell to BJP this time. BJP, which didn’t open account in the last assembly polls in Tripura, conquered this time which further indicates the massive upsurge of the saffron brigade. Another state galand, predomitly a Christian state, too produced stunning result. The common people of galand, as it appears from the poll results, have rejected the religion-oriented policies of Congress and accepted development as their only agenda.

Can Tripura poll results be termed as the last straw on the back of Leftists in India? Surely Kerala only holds their forthcoming for the time being.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Ambari, Guwahati.

State Language Neglected

Jata Bhawan at Dispur, Guwahati, is the seat of power of the Government of Assam. The entire complex is fortified with strong boundary walls, covering the entire complex. Apparently, the Guwahati Munical Corporation (GMC) is maintaining the complex as well as its cleanliness (see attached photographs).

The walls have writings by GMC in English like “I ?? Guwahati; keep your city clean” , “Dispose Garbage Responsibly”. All these are in English only: Nowhere these are written in Assamese, the State language of Assam. This is another example of neglect of the state language. This is not expected from the Assam Government.

A Concerned citizen,

Guwahati.

Celebrated in  Most Barbaric Fashion

The erstwhile noble and divine festival of colours gets presently "celebrated" in the most barbaric fashion possible. Thanks to certain philistines and vested interests, Holi is increasingly getting branded as the day in which "licence" is issued to molest the womenfolk! In this sorry perspective, it is tural that women will get subjected to sexual atrocities in the me of "celebrating" Holi with them. Retaliation is bound to happen, thereby giving rise to untoward incidents in all corners of the country. Again the young boys and girls, who try to attain "modernity" by engaging in public display of affection, discard all sense of decency and civility during Holi and visually pollute the environment. And there exists a brute section of revellers whose enjoyment in Holi depends upon the magnitude of the nuisance they can create in public. Thus they unhesitatingly sprinkle rubbish, paint or deadly colours or chemicals on the pedestrians or commuters in public transport causing serious accidents, eye injuries and even death as had been witnessed in 2013 in Mumbai where a person got killed and seven injured after getting attacked by chilli mixed colour and falling off the running train. What a crude way to "enjoy" Holi! Practically Holi has become synonymous with archy, violence, molestation, drinking, indecency and illness of all possible hues.

It is high time the concerned authorities awarded exemplary punishment to the philistine lot and urgently reinstate the noble festival to its former purity and glory. 

Kajal Chatterjee,

Peerless gar, Kolkata-114.