Letters to THE EDITOR

Insulting Hindu Gods

Bollywood has made a reputation of making jokes, comical scenes with Hindu deities. There are some actors and directors who proudly insult Hindu beliefs. Some of the notable are Anurag Kashyap, Amir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Ali Abbas, and others who in the blink of an eye make fun with Hindu deities. The famous example is Amir Khan starer PK, where Lord Shiva was portrayed in a very bad taste. Now the trend is set up in OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc where numerous web series are released which directly hurts the sentiments of Hindus.

Pataallok, newly released Tandav are some of the glaring examples. The web series have not only targeted Hindu religious beliefs but also tries to insult our armed forces. The recently released movie featuring Anil Kapoor named Ak Vs Ak showed our navy in a bad taste. Earlier another movie named Gunjan made fun of the Kargil heroes. Now question arises where our censor board is. How come these anti-national web series and cinemas pass the screening of censor board. Bollywood has another agenda that is to glorify likes of Dawood Ibrahim and other criminals in larger than life style. Even the invaders like Alaudin Khilji and others are glorified as mascot of secularism.

Purabi Miri,

Jakhalabandha.

Dr. Hiren Gohain:An intellectual?

Generally we often come across a particular term 'intellectuals'. Soon after the term a few gentlemen names are followed. One particular name is Dr. Hiren Gohain. We know his academic credentials are brilliant but what is his contribution and roles towards the society. Intellectuals are that breed of people who has the capacity to think beyond the level of common people. Definitely one would expect their ideas and suggestions would be betterment for a public, State and the nation. But it is otherwise, Dr. Hiren Gohain who occupies a respectable position in the State, thanks to Leftists and Congressi people, has often betrayed the people, State and the nation. Who will forget the role played by Dr. Hiren Gohain during the 1962 Chinese Aggression? He sided with the red army. Who will forget his role during Assam Agitation. He didn't stand for the Asomiyas. During the anti-NRC drive in Assam, he shared the dais with a communal figure Maulana Madani in Delhi where the Hindu hater Maulana Madani spoke openly about burning Assam if any Muslim name is deleted from the NRC. In Assam, there are many people who have same or more academic certificates to his/her name but they are never called intellectuals. In fact, those brilliant minds prefer to work as common people in the interest of the society and the nation. The person who has tried to destroy the State, sided with enemies, kept silent when someone was threatening to burn the State is still addressed as intellectual figure of the State.

Chotu Nath Boro,

Baghbor.

Sivasagar bandh

On January 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Assam and as per the programme he will hold a public meeting in Sivasagar. The districts of Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia are worst affected by the mushroom growth of parties, sangathans and parishads. On January 23, a new organization named Sangrami Yubo Chatra Parishad has called for Sivasagar district bandh. This was addressed by a three-member committee which organized a press meet in Sivasagar Press Club. The unheard organization went further by informing the public that they would raise black flags in front of the PM. Can the three people who came to address the press meet speak in details about their organization? A few questions like how many members are there in the organization (please don't furnish fake names generally it is practice), organization's office address, their contributions to the society, source of income (sanda collection is primary we all know), registration certificate. If the so-called president and secretary of Sangrami Yubo Chatra Parishad can furnish the answers in public, I being a resident of Sivasagar district would definitely abide by their bandh call.

The biggest problem in upper Assam is cockroach type birth of Dols and Sangathans whose primary objective is to collect sanda. Some misguided youths in lure of easy money fall prey into the trap of these organizations as a result their careers are ruined forever.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar.

Reliability of number 100

The phone number 100 should be active for 24 hours. Yesterday, I was in trouble and called the police three times but the number was showing busy. From that I came to know that our police are not reliable. If I was in severe trouble then who would come for help? Are the police forces not responsible for their own duties? So I request the authorities concerned to look into the matter as early as possible so that people are not affected from these types of incidents.

Manish Kashyap,

Tezpur.

BJP vaccine?

Indian politics has some rarest of species which are difficult to trace in any other place but abundantly available in India. Son of former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav and he himself is also ex Chief Minister of the same State, Akhilesh Yadav has urged his followers to stay away from the COVID-19 vaccination drive currently underway in the country. He termed the newly developed vaccine as BJP vaccine. So if one goes by his logic than all the scientists who have worked tirelessly to develop the vaccine are from BJP's clan. He claimed that participating in the vaccination drive will cause infertility. We can draw a conclusion that those parties like Samajwadi Party, Congress, RJD, DMK, Shiv Sena, etc who believe in dynasty rule have produced some rarest of rare products. Some of the examples of such products are Rahul Gandhi, Tejaswini Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, to name a few. These breed of politicians have become a big liability for the nation. A simple advice these rumour mongers, "If you have nothing to do, please don't do it here."

Dr. Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Mamata to contest from 2 constituencies

It refers to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing to contest from two Assembly constituencies in forthcoming elections to State Assembly. It has become an unholy fashion of top political leaders to contest from two constituencies or for both Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha even though he or she can represent just one constituency. Urgent poll reforms should be made whereby a person may be allowed to contest only from one constituency that too either for Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. Rather a sitting MP or MLA must resign from earlier before filing nomination for the other seat. An MP or MLA should automatically lose membership of the House just on taking oath as Minister in the State or at the Centre rather than being allowed to retain membership of the earlier House for six months. One single controversial vote in Lok Sabha by the then Odisha Chief Minister Girdhar Gomango pulled down the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre. Any legislator resigning in mid-term should not be allowed to contest any election for at least next six years. To give real value to NOTA and to discourage vote-splitters, all those getting less votes than NOTA should be barred from contesting any election for next six years. It will further make political parties to field good candidates.

Madhu Agrawal,

Delhi.

Virtual inner line permit to enter Meghalaya

Going to Meghalaya for a day from Guwahati is presently a big trouble as the State has enforced a virtual inner line permit (ILP) to enter the State. Though the Central government has not permitted the State to implement ILP, the State administration has brought in the ILP regime in the State through the backdoor by amending its 'Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act in 2019'. A visit from Guwahati for a day's tour to Meghalya almost came to standstill now as the new regulation requires visitors other than students and businessmen to stay for at least two days besides rigid observance of procedure for obtaining online permission. The State has immense tourism potential but lacks good and safe roads connecting tourist destination. Whatever tourism attraction exists has been nullified by the new restriction and the State leaders have turned a blind eye to the poor plight of the small traders who vend fruits, vegetables along the national highway as well as the roadside teashops and dhabas who earn their livelihood. The State which mainly depends on the Central dole utterly failed to realize importance of tourism sector as well ignoring the economic uplift of the poor commoners in the State. The State government is not only not earnest in welfare of its citizenry but in the post COVID-19 lockdown instead of reopening economic opportunities the leaders are ingeniously jabbing into partisan politics. The continuance of current state of affairs augers ill for the people and the State is doomed to limbo.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati.

Patience a must

In India, rules and laws are framed, but their proper execution seldom takes place. We are fortunate enough to get a vaccine, but the streamlined process of administering it is a Herculean task. If foolproof planning is not done, the mere aim of making the vaccine will be defeated. India is the world's second most populous country. It is not possible to vaccinate such a large number of people in one go. We need to wait for our turn with patience and be in the 'queue' till then.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog

Achievement of Indian female pilots

Recently, a team of female pilots of the Air India successfully crossed the World's longest flight path and established the prestige of the Air India in the world arena. According to Air India, a technically highly skilled and experienced pilot is required to fly over the North Pole. Therefore, it is common for a skilled male pilot to fly such a flight, although on January 11, 2021, four Indian female pilots successfully flew over the North Pole on the World's longest flight path. A team of extremely heroic and ambitious four female pilots crossed the world's longest flight path on a single Air India flight and witnessed history. All female pilots, led by Captain Zoya Aggarwal, landed at Bengaluru on January 11 on an Air India flight, covering a distance of about 16,000 km. Captain Zoya Aggarwal's world record-breaking Air India team of female pilots includes Captain Papagari Thanmai, Captain Akansha Sonoware and Captain Shivani Manhas. According to Air India, the flight, managed by a team of female pilots, is not only the longest commercial flight in the world, but also the first flight for any airline in India.

Congratulations to all on this outstanding achievement of India's pride and resources women pilot and wish you all good health and longevity. In addition, we hope that in the near future, the success of women pilots will continue unabated.

Heramba Nath,

Kamrup.

Regulate online gaming

The NITI Aayog has released a draft report titled 'Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-Level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India' and mentioned that there is a public interest in the fantasy sports industry receiving the government recognition as an industry and having its own identity. In this matter, the online gaming industry has requested the Government to set up a self-regulatory body to standardize regulations for the entire online skill gaming sector and not just the fantasy sports industry. The Online Rummy Federation stated that India's skill gaming industry suffers from the same Byzantine set of state-by-state laws and regulations. A common self-regulatory body will result in the removal of a lot of uncertainty for foreign investors, spur foreign investment to the tune of a few billion dollars, drive innovation, employment, and taxes. The need of the hour is that the NITI Aayog should include all skill gaming sectors in this draft and regulate the whole online gaming industry.

Amit Singh Kushwaha,

Satna (M.P.).

Fuel price

Petrol and diesel prices were raised by 25 paise per litre on Monday, according to a notification issued from oil companies. Prices were last hiked by 50 paise per litre in two installments in January 13 and 14. Along with the price hike of petrol and diesel, prices of essential commodities will also be raised. As a result, common people as well as daily-wage earners will be badly affected. As such, I would like to request the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to look into the issue and take appropriate steps without delay.

Putul Sarma,

Biswanath Chariali.