Citizenship Act
THE Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) goes against the basic principles of democracy and the Constitution and hence should be withdrawn (Cover Story, January 3, 2020). Did the government not anticipate the repercussions of this Act, which has led to agitations across the country and invited the criticism of other nations? The BJP-led Central government is well aware that even after 72 years of freedom the country is not free from the burden of overpopulation, poverty, malnutrition, health hazards, unemployment, child labour, and so on. The number of cases of rapes and atrocities against Dalits and minority communities is rising.
One wonders what the government proposes to achieve with this Act. It should be set aside, and the government should put its priority on attending to the problems of the country.
Ashok Nihalani
Pune, Maharashtra
THE people of Assam have risen in unison against the CAA, which goes against the rights guaranteed to them. The Constitution does not envisage citizenship on the grounds of religion, and any attempt to tinker with this will certainly boomerang.
S. Murali
Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Nowadays , India presents a shameful image to the rest of the world because of the crackdown on students, the stopping of Internet services and the storming of university campuses. Students are the future of India. When they come out in protest, the solution is not storming their libraries. The solution lies in hearing them out and trying to understand their feelings.
Mohammad Husain
Malappuram, Kerala
Crimes against women
THE article “Brutal country for women” (January 3, 2020) on the increasing prevalence of sexual assaults in the country, such as the tragic incidents of rape in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad, was informative. In the garb of protecting cows, mob lynching has become the order of the day under the BJP government. Gradually, this bloodlust has spread to the entire nation, which is distressing. The government has to stop focussing its attention on petty issues on the basis of religion and focus all its attention on women’s safety and the development of the nation.
Mohammed Owais Khan
Malappuram, Kerala
IT is gut-wrenching that women are treated like second-class citizens across the country. The Unnao victim was brutalised by the culprits because she dared to lodge a police complaint against them. All States, particularly Uttar Pradesh, should emulate Telangana.
In the wake of the rape in Hyderabad, the Telangana Assembly passed the “Disha Act”, which says that investigations into rape case should be fast-tracked and completed in less than 21 days and that the perpetrators must be brought to justice in that time.
FUZAIL AHMED
THIRURANGADI, KERALA
Maharashtra
THE BJP’s midnight manoeuvres in Maharashtra exposed its unscrupulousness and double standards (Cover Story, December 20). This is a turning point in Indian politics. The Maharashtra episode has shown the opposition parties how to handle the BJP’s bullying and blackmailing tactics against small regional parties.
The BJP claims to be against corruption but made Ajit Pawar, who had several corruption cases against him, Deputy Chief Minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government. It failed to keep its promise to its ally the Shiv Sena vis-a-vis the pre-election 50:50 power-sharing deal. Everyone in the government from top to bottom colluded with the manoeuvres to strangle democracy and make a mockery of parliamentary proprieties.
M.N. Bhartiya
Alto-Porvorim, Goa
Sanskrit
IT was nauseating to see students at BHU sitting on a dharna because a Muslim professor had been appointed to teach Sanskrit (“Communalising a campus”, December 20). When there is no objection to anyone learning Sanskrit, then there cannot be and should not be any objection to anyone teaching it. As the article rightly said, a language cannot belong to any particular religion.
In north India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, many people, Hindus not just Muslims, learn Urdu. In the former nizam area of what is now Telangana and in parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra, many students study in Urdu-medium schools even though they are Hindus and their mother tongues are Telugu, Marathi or Kannada. Indians should rise above the petty issues of language and religion to make the country a pluralisatic and secular society.
In fact, a Muslim teacher teaching Sanskrit and a Hindu teacher teaching Arabic can happen only in India. This should be a matter of immense pride for Indians.
P. Nag Shankar Rao
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
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