Letters to the Editor: Stop cutting trees in the name of development

Stop cutting trees in the name of development

Recently, an issue has been widely circulated on social media: “In the name of making roads, in the name of development, the government has cut down many trees”. It is as if a game has started between two opposing teams. If there is a call to not cut trees on one side, on the other hand, there is an undeclared competition to cut trees. Who do we support now? We should support nature and Yadav Payeng. Because a few days ago, at an awareness meeting, a prominent person said something in his speech that made a difference in his mind. He said, “We have been inhabiting people of various faiths. Everyone believes in a different religion. But we should follow nature as a religion.

Trees, rivers, etc., should be respected. If we have been given a beautiful life, that is what nature has given us. Nature is very generous. Nature doesn’t harm anyone. Only because of some modern thinking of human beings, for cutting trees in the name of development, we have fallen into the wrath of nature.” He said this with a lot of logic, which is true. If we harm nature, our danger is inevitable.

The government wants to make a record by planting one crore trees across the state on October 2, which is a good thing. But cutting trees in the name of development is not acceptable. Cutting down trees in the name of development should also stop; the opposite should be found.

Otherwise, there may be a demand from many in the coming years that the government, which has cut trees in the name of making roads, etc., will not have the moral right to make a world record by planting trees.

Sanjib Sagar Das,

Bhawanipur, Barpeta.

Quisling

The word quisling was very much used in France during WWII, which means traitor or collaborator of the Germans. Now the whole political scenario of the state is occupied with one issue. The issue is delimitation. Both the ruling and opposition parties are trying to prove their points before the gullible Asomiyas. Recently, the opposition has been trying to woo us by projecting the following deshbhakts to prove their points: They are the ones following with their dossiers. Dr. Hiren Gohain is known for his role in the 1962 Chinese aggression, the 1983 Assam Andolan, and the establishment of War Memorial Park in the historic Dighalipukhuri. Akhil Gogoi, the acrobat of the Assam Assembly, is known for his role in the Kaziranga eviction drive against the illegal settlers. Gaurav Gogoi, born and brought up outside Assam with an iota of ideas about Assamese culture and traditions, is yet to be able to differentiate between a male and female fish. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the overambitious former AASU General Secretary and a very active anti-CAA activist, was totally rejected by the voters in the last assembly polls in two constituencies totally dominated by the indigenous people of Naharkotia and Duliajan. Ajit Bhuyan, the Rajya Sabha MP, with full support from AIUDF, is also under the scanner for huge misappropriation of allotted funds from the centre to MPLAD. Badaruddin Ajmal, AIUDF boss and MP from Dhubri, needs no introduction. AASU, the supreme apolitical body of Assam, along with the BJP, are their main adversaries. It is up to the sons of the soil to settle the issue, as it is a life-and-death question for the Asomiyas.

Joel Goyari,

Tangla.

Self–inflicted injury on Assamese

Very recently, we came to know from electronic and print media reports that a few drunken goons punched blows at an Assamese bar boy near ABC-GS Road for speaking in Assamese. It did happen inside a bar in the dead of night. It broke in the electronic media the next morning. Like any other Assamese, I too got agitated and asked, “How dare they do so inside Guwahati?” When my emotions died down, I started thinking differently. I realized that the event that did happen was of our own making. When our own people don’t love our mother tongue and discard it from schools, colleges, for the purpose of administration, and from APSC examinations as well, how do we expect others to respect our language?

We, the Assamese, have already thrown our language to the dustbin. To be precise, only a self-respecting (Swabhiman) society can do so. It wouldn’t be a matter of great surprise if we came to know that there had been a few Assamese boys among the drunken goons. It is my apprehension that days are not far off when brute forces will compel Assamese to kneel down on the roadsides of Assam for speaking in Assamese. It is in the offing! When our enemy is within, we don’t need any external forces to decimate us. To conclude, I would like to state that ‘wise men learn from others mistakes, while fools keep on making mistakes’.

Prafulla Dowarah,

Guwahati.