Dear Editor,
Kudos to The Arunachal Times for the editorial titled ‘Modi and his communal agenda’ (2 April).
It is a disgrace to notice how a person holding the leading constitutional post in a multi-religious secular country (who is supposed to represent all) is shamelessly dividing the electorate and the citizens between ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ and scandalously batting for Hindus only while lecturing on terror or taunting another person’s democratic right to choose in which constituencies to contest.
Rahul Gandhi’s nomination from minority-dominated Wayanad in Kerala is extremely symbolic and welcome. Thanks to the current environment, it seems that this diverse country is the personal fiefdom of upper caste Hindi-speaking Hindus, dominated by the northern and western Indians. Therefore, Gandhi’s Wayanad sojourn definitely transmits the message that the people residing south of the Vindyas, and religious minorities, also matter in this heterogeneous land of all.
And if nominations from Baroda as well as Varanasi in 2014 signifies one’s ‘popularity’, ‘bravery’ and ‘efficiency’, there lies no reason to believe that nominations from Amethi and Wayanad would prove another’s ‘unpopularity’, ‘cowardice’ and ‘inefficiency’ just five years later. The hypocrisy of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ is simply not cricket.
Let the democratic, pluralistic, all- inclusive, free soul of India again rise from the southern tip of the country or god’s own land.
Sincerely,
Kajal Chatterjee,
Kolkata