Letters to the Editor: Tragic deaths

Tragic deaths

In a tragic incident three private contractual workers fell into a sewer in Outer Delhi’s Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar on March 29 that resulted in their death. A fourth person, an autorickshaw driver, who tried to rescue the three also fell inside the sewer and died. The toxic gases from the sewer made rescue and retrieval of bodies difficult for rescue teams. These deaths are a sad commentary on the poor civic amenities in Delhi where open sewers are not an uncommon sight. This despite massive budgets for every level of administration from municipal corporations to the Delhi government. The government must duly compensate the families of the dead who all came from low-income group.

Ravi Prakash, Delhi

Economic boycott of Muslims

There have been voices from various Hindutva groups in various parts of India for economic boycott of Muslims. The Hindutva groups want the majority community to not buy goods/services from Muslims. In the recent past there have been several instances where poor Muslim vendors, bangle sellers, hawkers etc have been beaten up for selling goods in Hindu areas. Also, at certain places Hindutva activists have objected to Muslim vendors/hawkers/ rehriwallahs keeping Hindu-sounding names of their small makeshift outlets. This is not just venomous but unconstitutional too. The Constitution of India gives every citizen the right to earn their livelihood through any legal profession/vocation. However, there has been no action by the police against people openly calling for economic boycott of Muslims and harassing them every now and then. Recently two Karnataka legislators have said a sensible thing: what if all the Muslim countries where Indian Hindus work and earn handsomely start deporting those people back to India? Will the BJP governments be able to give employment to all those people who number in lakhs? Actually, this madness must stop. All communities in an economic system are inter-dependent and any sort of boycott will result in horrible economic outcomes.

Kapil Singh, Delhi

Fuel is burning hole in our pockets

The rising prices of fuel including that of cooking gas is burning a hole in the common man’s pocket. Petrol and diesel prices too are touching unprecedented high levels. The price rise is becoming unbearable at a time when many people have lost their source of income or have seen no growth in their income for the last two-three years. The Modi government, however, has been giving tax cuts to corporates and taxing the poor masses instead. The government must tax the rich and give relief to the poor. The opium of religion too has its limits.

Shantanu, Bengaluru

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)