Letters to The Editor: Ridiculous claims

Ridiculous claims

Cannot understand why Congress has so much hatred for the Sanatan culture, heritage, customs and beliefs. Over the years, the 100-year-old party has always been demeaning Hindu's beliefs and faith under the guise of secularism. After PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kashi Dham corridor recently in a glittering function, the Congresspeople are finding it hard to digest how Kashi Vishwanath Temple was demolished by three barbarians namely Mohammad Ghori (1194), Sikandar Lodhi (1505) and Aurangzeb (1669) was restored in a more magnified way. Of course, before giving the full credit to the NDA government, I would fail in my duties if I fail to mention the names of Man Singh 1 (1585), Ahilyabai Holkar (1780) who contributed immensely during their period to re-construct the demolished temple structure.

Congress mouthpiece National Herald's journalist Mrinal Pande made ridiculous claims about the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. She claimed that the Shiva Linga worshipped in the Kashi Vishwanath Dham is not 'Swayambhu', thus worshipping is not prescribed. She claimed that in the Temple of Avimukteshwar, Shiva was the head of old Kashi. Vishweshvara dates back to the 15th century. She further added about Padma Purana, Brahmavaivarta Purana, that Kashikandhad considered these two Lingas as separate and Avimukteshwar as Swayambhu Adi Linga. According to her since it was destroyed along with the temple, worshipping an ordinary Linga instead of Swayambhu Linga is unprescribed. According to Skanda Purana, Vishveshvara is mentioned as Swayambhu Linga. Not only that Shiva says, but Vishveshvara is also the greatest of all Linga forms of Shiva.

This is the old habit of Congress to make ridiculous claims and later on, they are subjected to utter humiliation. In the present topic, the journalist of the National Herald claim was destroyed by the people in social media platforms who used Puranas and Vedic texts as reference. Earlier, also the same National Herald wanted to create a social rift in the country post famous Ayodhya-Babri Masjid dispute verdict by Supreme Court with the son of the soil Ranjan Gogoi on the judge's chair. It would be interesting to see if Mrinal Pande of National Herald tries to be master on customs, faith and belief of other religions, though chances are extremely slim because of 'Secularism'.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Let sanctity of parliament be maintained

I quote the expressions expressed by late Prime Minister Chander Shekhar "if a person wants to enter in politics then he/she must have to maintain the habit of expressing sorry for any act and as well to say thanks" and the present ruckus is only based to express sorry for their actions. During the period of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it was the instructions to the Parliamentary Minister that he should be more visible in opposition benches/leaders than on treasury benches so that the House may run smoothly. In the present session, there were disruptions for three reasons firstly it was due to farmers' issues and secondly it was due to the expulsion of twelve Rajya sabha members, and now it is due to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and all the issues are such which could have been solved due to the joint efforts of ruling as well as opposition parties. To maintain the sanctity of parliament it is expected from the ruling party should refrain from passing the bills in the last one or two days without any discussions as the ruling party had done in the last parliament session. The last session was also washed away due to the farmers' agitation. This session is up to December 23 and during this period the PM will be on UP visit for three days so chances of compromise seem very dim and the government has made clear that the Deputy Home Minister will not resign because the investigation is being monitored by the Supreme Court so there can't be any sort of interference by Minister Mishra. India has the largest democracy in the world and many countries also follow the procedure of the Indian parliament, so it is expected from the members of parliament to maintain decorum which may be an example for other countries.

Yash Pal Ralhan,

Jalandar 144003

Prom night at SNBC Hostel

Being an ex-Cottonian, I was disheartened to know that the famous SNBC hostel a few days back organized Prom Night, culture aliens to our culture, violating all the Covid protocols. Firstly, how Cotton University administration allowed the boarders to organize such events knowing very well that just a few days back, a hostel in Gauhati University had to close down the due spread of Covid-19. Secondly, earlier Cotton College and present-day Cotton University have the reputation of being the flag bearer of the Assamese culture and tradition and for that reason earlier it was said 'what cotton college thinks today, Assam thinks tomorrow'. However, now going by the activities of the students in the last 5-10 years that famous punch line cannot be associated with Cotton University. It is observed that nowadays the inmates of the hostel are more inclined to the western culture. Acts of vandalism by the borders have come to light quite frequently. Drug and alcohol abuse in the hostel has become a regular affair. Activities of collecting sanda or Gunda tax is also heard in the recent days by the students of Cotton University.

During the CAB/CAA strike, the students of the hostels of Cotton University displayed the most unruly behaviour. The students resorted to damaging the public properties. Throwing stones at the security forces. It is high time the administration of CU took measures to curb the influence of western culture and streamline the students in following the principles of Srimanta Sankardev, Madhavdev, Lachit Barphukan, Jyoti Prasad Agarwal, Bishnu Rabha, Dr Lakminath Bezbarua, Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, Dr Bhupen Hazarika. Otherwise, who knows tomorrow we might hear that some vulgar types of programmes like cabaret dance and rave party are organized by the inmates of the hostel.

Purabi Miri,

Jakhalabandha.

The would-be PM

We all know that a PM of a nation is the most coveted and prestigious post dreamt by any politician of a democratic nation like India. The said post of our nation was adorned by the likes of all Lt. Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Vajpayee and Modi the present PM who has filled the boot very efficiently so far. Every political party usually projects their candidate for the said post. Accordingly, now we have Rahul Gandhi from INC, Mamata Banerjee from TMC, Akhilesh Yadav from SP apart from Narendra Modi from BJP.

I, through this letter, make a fervent appeal to my countrymen to close their eyes for 5 minutes and try to find out the best from the above-mentioned list of 3 candidates as the future PM of the nation. The whole nation is waiting in anticipation for your precious response.

Jai Hind.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Illogical bank strike

In the budget, it was proposed that two nationalized banks will be converted into private banks. There was pandemonium in the parliament so bills were not introduced, and the same may be introduced during this session if the Rajya Sabha is run smoothly. At present ruckus is going on in the Upper House due to the expulsion of twelve members. The process of disinvestment is going on with the aim of making use of disinvestment proceeds to finance various social sector and development programmes and also to infuse private capital in the Central Government public sector enterprises.

It is the general habit of trade union leaders to call a strike that is meant for their survival and does not care for the national interests. In this regard, the example before us is the start of computerization in the banking sector and trade unions strongly opposing it. Ultimately when some additional monetary benefits were given to bank employees the trade union leaders immediately accepted the offer of the government. So, in a nutshell, these leaders have an interest in monetary gain and have no link with the national interests as is clear from the above example and if computerization had been introduced at an early stage the country would have gained too much I quote another example of highhandedness of these leaders. The first disability Act was passed by the parliament in 1996 and the second disability Act was passed in 2016. And due to this, there cannot be any disparity between the abled and disabled, and I had already several times brought it to the notice of these union leaders but due to the insensitive attitude towards the disabled these leaders have till today not even acknowledged the representation. And how can we expect from them that they will take up the matter with the government? By going on strike when both Houses of Parliament is not functioning shows that the strike is called with the ill-conceived notions without caring for the national interests. I appeal to the government not to call these leaders for any negotiations until and unless the demand of the disabled is put forward in their charter of demands. I also appeal to all employees of the banks to put pressure on the leaders to shun the indifferent attitude towards the disabled. Recently, family pension was enhanced. I sent representations to Finance Minister as well as to the other dignitaries, including Union leaders bringing to their notice how the legal heirs of disabled will be adversely impacted, and for loss of family pension, these leaders who are holding the positions in a trade union, as well as their predecessors who were at the helm of affairs previously, are equally responsible for the legal heirs of family pensioners. Now I appeal to these leaders to come forward for these family pension holders and show their capabilities to handle the issues for the infringement of their constitutional rights.

Yash Pal Ralhan,

Jalandhar 144003

Increasing

marriageable age

If it's a progressive step or bane for the poor, time will tell. Even that the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to increase the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. This comes a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his Independence Day address from Red Fort in August 2020. Even before Modi's speech, the proposal was recommended by the task force headed by Jaya Jaitley (constituted in June 2020 and gave its report in December the same year) in Niti Aayog, which consists of Pediatrician VK Paul, the secretaries of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development, Higher Education, School Education and Literacy Mission and the Ministry of Justice and Law were also a part of the task force. The task force had said that the minimum age of women at the time of giving birth to their first child should be 21. For any sensible person whatever be the worldly discussions, increasing the legal marriage age for girls to 21 years is an immensely welcome step. Respect the girl child to be complete in every way and confident to take on the responsibilities of the future. Moreover, the decision is a great masterstroke with silence, if this bill gets passed, it will also work as family planning. But if biologically speaking it's better to increase the minimum marriageable age of girls to 21 years as it will be better for the girls who want to study further & do something recognisable in their life but couldn't do it because of the marriage.

Now, the big question to change the law the government will bring amendments to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act and Hindu Marriage Act to give the new proposal a shape, but what will be happened to other communities Marriage Act for at par?

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,

Faridabad 121005