Letters to the Editor: Celebrating safe Diwali

Diwali is a festival of lights. People celebrate Diwali by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces with diyas (oil lamps) and rangolis. During Diwali, people light fireworks. Firecrackers increase the concentration of dust and pollutants in the air. Firecrackers are made of chemicals. After firing, fine dust particles get settled on the surrounding surfaces which are packed with chemicals like copper, zinc, sodium, lead, magnesium, cadmium and pollutants like oxides of sulfur and nitrogen. These dust and pollutants start destructing our environment and easily put our health at risk. Children are also seen bursting crackers on Diwali. It is very risky for them. If firecrackers explode in their hand by mistake they can get injured. When crackers release toxic gases it affects not only humans but also other animals. Crackers can cause burning and injuries to animals and birds. Animals get panic because of the noise of crackers.

Why should we celebrate Diwali like this where there is so much damage and danger? People should understand that without bursting firecrackers, we can still celebrate Diwali. The essence of Diwali is lighting lamps. We can decorate our place with fairy lights and use more Diyas. Diyas are the traditional items used to celebrate Diwali and for all the right reasons. Also, we can make homemade lanterns. We can spend time with our family and friends. Such celebrations neither pollute the environment nor harm the health of people and animals.

Parilina Das,

Mirza

Who is whose stooge?

During the NDA Government in Maharashtra with Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister and Shiv Sena as an ally proposed Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar. Later on, after switching alliance, Shiv Sena under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray joined their bitter rivals INC and NCP to fulfil his design to become Chief Minister. Now, when BJP has proposed the name of Veer Sarvakar for the Bharat Ratna award CM Thackeray seems to be in the doldrums as his big brother INC is opposing the proposal tooth and nail and have termed Great Sarvakar as a British stooge. I being a bona fide and proud Indian do feel it is necessary to tell the nation about Veer Sarvakar's contributions towards the freedom struggle. On the other hand, INC, the hundred-year-old political party claiming to bring independence to the nation from the Britishers, is branding VEER SARVAKAR as a stooge of the British. The sad part of the story is that INC under Italian-origin Sonia Gandhi lacks knowledge about Veer Sarvakar and his struggles and contributions towards India's freedom movement history.

All said and done, if Veer Sarvakar was the stooge of the British, then what about their party men like Sidhu, Sashi Tharoor, Mani Shankar Aiyyar, Rahul Gandhi and others? Siva Sena's stoic silence in this regard should also put Uddhav Thackeray's name on that list. There is a gap and difference between Sachin Tendulkar and Veer Savarkar. The promptness exhibited by the then UPA government in honouring Sachin Tendulkar with Bharat Ratna was alright, but distorting the history to serve their political agenda is a crime.

Lanu Dutta Chowdhury,

Guwahati

Important milestone

On 21st October, India achieved an important milestone by vaccinating 100 crore people against Covid-19. In this process, India has outclassed countries like the USA, the UK, Australia, Russia etc., whose population is far less than our country. PM Modi rightly congratulated all those who were involved in this mammoth exercise in his usual style. Of course, the battle is not yet over by any stretch of the imagination. During the vaccination exercise, the government received little support from the opposition who were active to jeopardize the drive with numerous rumours. We all remember the attitude of opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav and Company who termed this vaccine as BJP vaccine and brazenly urged the people not to get vaccinated as it might lead to infertility. Very interestingly when the entire world was lauding India for its unique feat, one Congress spokesperson named Rajdeep Sujrewala, a total non-entity was criticizing the government by terming it as political propaganda. Another Modi baiter and a very close ally of Imran Khan, PM of Pakistan, Sashi Tharoor also expressed the same opinion before the press. It is very amusing as nowhere in his speech, PM Modi ever mentioned any word highlighting this unique feat as BJP's success.

The recent foreign tour of PM Modi strongly asserted India's presence and presented our country's viewpoints before the world leaders. His graceful composure during his meeting with HIS HOLINESS POPE in the Vatican should make us proud.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Marvellous art on flyovers!

There is no doubt that India has a unique culture, unique unity and many more that are different from the rest of the world. But compared to other countries the state of cleanliness in India is quite deplorable. Due to a lack of awareness on cleanliness among the citizens, different pollution strikes India extensively. In Assam, people are quite aware of nature. But on the other hand, there is also a famous art which is very common everywhere in Assam. It is the art of spitting. By chewing gutkha, betel nut they spit and create a unique level of art in streets, offices, hospitals and public halls all around. If you are a resident of Guwahati, you have surely observed the newly constructed flyover that was inaugurated during this Diwali, is also an art ground for these unique artists who shamelessly spite on this newly inaugurated beautiful flyover. So, I want to draw the attention of the GMC and the government through your esteemed daily that they impose some strict rules against this type of dirty habit of the citizens.

Aditya Ankur Nath,

Cotton University,

Guwahati -1