Letters to The EDITOR: Oblivion?

The bye-polls of the state are over. The oppositions, particularly the Congress and AIUDF, were decimated in all the five constituencies that went to the polls. The said elections interestingly had some strong effects in the case of two overambitious state political leaders – Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Akhil Gogoi. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the once firebrand AASU leader, after leaving the students' body formed a regional political party, named AJP along with some renegades. Lurinjyoti Gogoi with his strong vocabulary in Assamese became an instant crowd puller as in his election rallies thousands thronged to hear him in his tirade against the Central and State governments. But on the D-Day, Lurinjyoti Gogoi and his renegades were blown away by the voters. During the anti-CAA stir Lurinjyoti Gogoi and a few leading artistes, along with top AASU leaders, roared the anti-CAA slogans across the state. The other guy, Akhil Gogoi, who was in jail, also did not lag. He in his usual style of branding himself as a true Axomiya joined the anti-CAA bandwagon supported by our think-tanks like Dr Hiren Gohain and Co. and also formed another regional political party, named Raijor Dol amid great publicity but once the election results were out, they were too lost in the oblivion.

Now with the withdrawal of farm laws by the Centre, the very same lobby has started flexing their muscles to raise the CAA issue once again. Before doing so, I was a loyal Indian who strongly urge them to feel the plight of the helpless minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and our brothers and sisters in Kashmir and rise above their petty political goal as Indians. Axomiyas are Indians.

JAI AI ASOM, JAI HIND.

Joel Goyari,

Tangla.

Clean Tezpur,

green Tezpur

Being a resident of Tezpur I am personally very glad to hear that Tezpur is again crowned as the cleanest city of the Northeast zone under the Swachh Survekshan mission. Tezpur has already emerged as the second cleanest city among the cities of the north-eastern region in the swatch Sarvekshan 2020. From the very beginning, the Municipality Board of Tezpur and the district administration have stepped forward to keep Tezpur clean and green. In comparison to the other towns of Assam Tezpur is unique in many ways. But slowly Tezpur is going to lose its past glory on cleanliness for untoward behaviour of some citizens towards the circle of our environment. We can make our beloved city leaner and greener. If we don't throw our domestic garbage here and there if we don't use plastics and other pollutants, if we can make every institution, office, every public place a plastic-free environment, we can surely uplift the stage of cleanliness of Tezpur to national and international levels.

So, I urge everyone to treat Tezpur as his own home onwards.

Aditya Ankur Nath,

Cotton University

Big Brother Imran Khan!

Turncoat politician and currently Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu in his recent visit to Karatpur corridor heaped praises on Imran Khan by calling him his 'Big Brother. This is not the first instance of Sidhu praising Imran Khan. Earlier, he endorsed the Pakistani Prime Minister as an honest person and he even hugged ISI chief General Bajwa at Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony. The Pakistan government has been bleeding India for decades by sponsoring terrorism but the Punjab Congress chief, who is also trying his level best to please the pseudo-Gandhi family, has certainly insulted the martyrs and souls of innocent civilians who lost their lives to the bullets of Pakistani terrorists. If Sidhu is loved so much by Imran Khan, then Sidhu should ask his 'Big Brother' to stop sponsoring terrorism and also smuggle drugs to his home state Punjab. He should request Imran Khan to stop the killing of innocent civilians in the valley.

During his professional career as a cricketer, Sidhu was always fearful of Pakistani pacers like Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Aquib Javed and others, and this fear has been translated into appeasing his tormentors during his present political career. By mistake, AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi is completely keeping mum on the current statement made by his 'newfound loyalist'. It is only due to Sidhu that the Punjab Congress lost a capable and honest politician in the form of Captain Amarinder Singh. If Punjab goes out of Congress in the upcoming Assembly polls due in February 2022, then the entire blame should be put on Navjot Singh Sindhu and his masters Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. In the last Assembly polls, it was only due to the dynamic leadership of Captain Singh that BJP's victory march was halted. Hope the electorates of Punjab known for their valour gives a befitting reply to traitors like Navjot Singh Sindhu and his masters.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Price rise

It is a bitter truth that the State government has not taken a different approach to address the mounting economic concerns and when people have found their incomes drastically reduced after the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been an artificial rise in the prices of essential commodities. At a time when the situation needs pragmatic handling, the uncontrolled price hike has crippled normal life.

Undeniably, the pandemic has rendered many youths jobless and hence aggravated the unemployment scenario in the state. Needless to say the poor and the marginalized are the worst impacted segments in society. Sadly enough, the plight of these people seems to be missing from the priority list of the government's policy. It's indeed unfortunate on the part of the policymakers and leaders of the state to pretend to be unaware of the sufferings and hardships of the masses caused by the price hike. It is time the government consulted the eminent economists of the state and found out effective means to control the price hike at the earliest and hence relieve its citizens.

Dipen Gogoi,

Teok Jorhat.

Towards a hygienic city

The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has recently announced a reward of Rs 1,000 for the citizens who inform it about spitters in public places. Except for the dissatisfaction of gutkha chewers over the decision, all sections of society have applauded it. Similar to it, a serious concern of the Corporation is much needed towards stopping urination in public places of the city. Though there are several public toilets installed in various places, yet those are not sufficient enough considering the population of the city. Moreover, places like the Beltola Bazar, New Guwahati Railway Colony market and many other markets of the city do not even have a toilet to use. Also, many of the public toilets are in such places that often remain unnoticed by the citizens, which results in urinating in public spaces. Unlike chewing gutkha, urinating is not a choice of a person. Thus, it needs to be dealt with accordingly.

Dhrubajyoti Malakar,

Gauhati University.