MyVoice: Views of our readers 24th May 2024

EC response too little and too late

At last, the Election Commission has served notices to main political rival parties to maintain decorum in public speeches. If ruling BJP is warned against making divisive statements on religious lines, the Congress party is warned against branding BJP as the destroyer of constitution. Though the response of the Election Commission is laudable, it’s too little and too late. It could have acted sternly from the beginning of campaign for first phase. Now five phases are already completed, witnessing a great deal of abuses and speeches of hatred from both sides. Even serious transgressions of civility by the leaders in frontline have been dealt with kid gloves by the Commission. Had it taken the style of Seshan’s functioning as benchmark and emulated it from the day one, the nation would have seen more fair, clean and free elections.

Dr DVG Sankara Rao, Vizianagaram

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Nobody believes that the ECI is completely independent and neutral. Its partiality is ill-disguised; it is explicitly evident from letting Modi’s communal rhetoric go unpunished. It must have been so impotent, spineless, ineffectual and overawed by the top leader ‘to name and shame’ him or warn him. Further, the ECI has no plausible or convincing explanation for its refusal to upload all poll-related data on its website. In the latest directives to the BJP and the Congress, the ECI has tried to draw a false equivalence between the rabidly communal speeches by the BJP leaders and the speeches of the Congress leaders espousing the cause of social justice. Speeches intended to polarise people along religious lines cannot be bracketed with speeches calling for measures to bridge caste inequalities; they are like chalk and cheese.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

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Both BJP and Congress party, in particular, and all other political parties in general have been dividing the Indian society on caste, community, language and religious lines as per their vote bank politics for long. Previously, the battle lines on this score were subtle to a certain extent. But this year, it is an open war and free for all, . In the process, they are not only disturbing the social-cultural milieu but also vertically dividing the Indian society thereby endangering the unity and integrity of the nation as a whole. Prime Minister Modi also is guilty of crossing the limits this time whereas the I.N.D.I. alliance is provoking the ruling party to react and retort. I would rather appeal to all the top leaders to desist from divisive politics. I am also not amused at the advisory of ECI at this late hour i.e. after 5 phases of polling.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

An excellent essay on eyes

The two part article “Windows & mirrors to our souls” of Dr Mohan Kanda (Part II, May 23) has neatly, rightly, clearly and with reality depicted many issues revolving round our lives through windows and mirrors. We see what is happening outside through windows and exact reflection through mirrors. Out of five indriyas, eye stands at top. ‘Sarvendriyanaam Nayanam Pradhanam.’ Eyes speak, communicate, understand and many more merits are vested with them. Teaching through online is the latest trend. In direct classroom, teachers and students can directly interact with eyes and gestures which enables the students to learn more. Many lyrics are being written on eyes. Blind Milton boldly penned with a help his epic poem Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Devulapalli Krishna Sastry, a dumb poet, left with us melodious songs. Example of Albert Einstein’s two pairs of spectacles is a superb and lightening conclusion.

N Ramalakshmi, Secunderabad

A Royal rebound snuffs RCB dreams

So, the RCB juggernaut has been quashed by the collective might of Rajasthan. The Royals shook off the cobwebs of four straight defeats as the team stepped up for this eliminator. Despite all his runs and electric fielding, Virat Kohli came up against a team where each person stepped up to do a role and collectively get their team over the line. The way Boult was bowling, he got a bit of swing and seam movement. In the second innings, The exceptional shots from RR boys to get that chase. RRs greatest strength is the exuberance of youth and the experience and proved that the youth andexperince combination put paid to the hopes of Royal Challengers Bangalore. R.Ashwin annexed the Man of the match award in a crucial tie.

Anandambal C K Maniam, Mumbai