MyVoice: Views of our readers 16th June 2022

A good scheme for jobless youth

Defence Minister Rajanath Sing announced a new scheme to recruit youth, both men women, into three armed forces. This type of recruitment will certainly inculcate good things like patriotism, accountability, transparency and others among the youth. It will also realise the concept of well-trained youth for the nation. The youth will get attracted to this recruitment as they get priority in public employment. It will also add up employment by the Centre as it would like to fill nearly 10 lakh jobs in next 18 months.

Pratapa Reddy Y, Tiruvuru

President post merely a figurehead

It is remarkable that Sharad Pawar and Nitish Kumar who are prominent figures in India's political landscape have made it clear that they are not interested in the President's post. It is worth analysing why few national-level leaders aspire to be President. Has the country's highest constitutional post lost its attractiveness? Perhaps, the office of President has now come to be perceived in reductionist terms i.e. as a figurehead and a rubber stamp devoid of any real political power. One plausible explanation for the office lacking in lustre, perception-wise, is that it has come to be held by those who have been handpicked by the ruling party or alliance purely for political or ideological considerations. It implies that ideally the President should be elected on the strength of his or her personality. The post deserves famous sons of India like Dr Radhakrishnan and K Narayanan who were looked up to for their integrity, erudition and sagacity and philosophical outlook on life. Why shouldn't Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Kailash Satyarthi or Madhav Gadgil or someone like them who is eminently qualified to be the First citizen be considered for the post? One wishes that the nation gets a leader of stature in the mould of the two Presidents spoken of highly in this letter as the next President.

G David Milton, Maruthancode

II

Presidential candidate should be non-political but it will not be and it would be easy for the ruling party to have its candidate selected since the opposition is far from being united. Congress is still the main opposition party and Regional parties cannot think of forming a government at the Centre without Congress and hence should realise the reality for the country to have a strong opposition before 2024. It appears to be a distant dream.

Gundu K Maniam, Ghaziabad

Gandhis must come out clean

That the Congress party crying hoarse over the issue of Rahul Gandhi being summoned by ED on a money laundering case holds no water. The timing of serving him summons by ED may be questionable and can be attributed to ruling party's political interests, but the issue itself is not, as the National Herald affair deserves all probe. The first family of Congress party can send right message politically by facing the charges legally and on its own.

Dr DVG Sankararao, Vizianagaram

II

There is a proverb in Telugu "Inta Gelichi Rachha Geluvu'' that translates to being a winner at home first, before taking on others. I feel this applies to CM KCR as TRS is planning to expand beyond Telangana. Any biased and preconceived approach in this regard will backfire. As one reader has prudently pointed out, why did TRS choose only those states of BIMARU, while there are other underdeveloped states in India to fight elections? TRS must pursue a national policy that is level-headed and progress oriented, rather than settling scores with the Centre, by joining the bandwagon.

K V Raghuram, Wayanad

No religion teaches hate

Apropos 'Let's weigh our every word.' No religion teaches hate, yet their followers are often full of hatred. There is a yawning gap between precept and practice. This has led to wars across the entire human race. Those who wage wars in the name of religion are too sure of the righteousness of their cause. The possibility that we may be wrong would make us eschew all the vitriol we have against other religions. The advent of BJP at the seat of power has given the rabid types a licence to spew hate on television channels. I have never seen an anchor try to stop any kind of hateful comments because hate sells. We must understand one thing, it is the accident of birth which determines which religion we belong to. Therefore had we been born to a family of the other religions would our views on that religion be the same?

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai