Dear Editor,
Apropos Poonam I Kaushish’s article “Spirituality, sex & scam” (August 29, 2017), the Supreme Court of India’s landmark verdict on triple talaq needs to be followed up with other reforms. Discriminatory practices such as archaic polygamy and wearing of the patriarchal burqa and the casteist sacred thread must now also be stopped. While gender justice and gender ratio speak in favour of monogamy, wearing of the burqa or a sacred thread is not in conformity with our evolutionary progress. We have to shed the baggage of discrimination to move forward.
Again, the Supreme Court has come up with another historic judgement declaring privacy a fundamental right. Indeed, it is our system and administration that need to be absolutely transparent to check corruption. But to make people’s refrigerators and mobile phones transparent is not only unnecessary but also dangerous especially in a country that wants to remain democratic. In this context, we can recall what the head of the Chamar tribe told the king in Tagore’s poem ~ “Juta abiskar” (Discovery of shoes) ~ “If you cover your feet then you don’t have to cover the earth.” This simple truth carries a great message. Without becoming a Peeping Tom in the name of cleaning the dirt in our society, administration needs to be well covered so that it itself can remain free from corruption thus enabling it to govern without any prejudice and to create a clean socio-political environment.
Yours,
Sujit De,
Kolkata