Irresponsible statements
The recent statement by M L Khattar, the chief minister of Haryana, that Muslims can go to Pakistan if they want to eat beef and he further said "they can be even Muslims even after they stop eating beef "is pathetic and shameful. There is no remark as bad than this in our democratic and secular India. Firstly he should apologise to the Muslims of this country and secondly he should be sacked from the position of CM.
During the partition of India there were different thoughts from our national leaders. Jinnah was very firm of creating Pakistan whereas Mahatma Gandhi wants all of us to be together in one country. Vallabbhai Patel wanted Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan provided all Muslims from India will go to Pakistan. But Muslims of India decided to be with India and our Constitution is secular and democratic where all of the religions are considered equal and nobody is above the law. Our constitution is not religion based but secular based.
We say British divided and ruled India, but the legacy of British continued very well by our political leaders for the sake of votes.
Satyajit Prabhudessai, Benaulim
Wrong ordinance
Ordinance route is a gross abuse of power. It seems the governments of the day need not fear rules, laws or policy. If a law is going against your action, no problem. Just tweak the law to suit your purpose. Governments swear to uphold the Constitution and Indian law . Does legalizing illegalities come under “upholding the law”? The Supreme Court has criticised the practice of legislation by ordinance a number of times. It is an emergency power to be used only in extraordinary situations. Will Goa University close down if the Vice Chancellor‘s term is not extended? Where is the emergency or an extraordinary situation? By changing the law/ act or policy can this government guarantee that future governments will not abuse the provision?
DC Dias, Taleigao
Preserve the Mando
The Mando festival will be here soon and I request and hope that people get together to celebrate this important tradition in Goa. The presentation of the six couples - the girls beautifully dressed and holding a fan, the boys in a suit, the musicians with their violins, the occasional mandolin, guitarist, rebecao and of course, the ghumot, these are all important aspects of this great Goan tradition. The Mando should be kept alive for our future generations to continue and cherish.
Luis Carlos Roncon, Panaji
Misuse of power
With the prices of dal shooting through the roof and vegetables already at a high, the pockets of the average Goan has gone lighter. Now there are rumours of a price hike by the department of electricity. How are supposed to manage this? Perhaps the Goa government should first consider creating power supply from within the state instead of borrowing from our neighbours. Perhaps this itself might bring down tariffs. They should also subsidise renewable energy like solar power and set up systems to buy excess power from the people. This is an ideal direction to head in, instead of just hiking rates
Bhushan Kamat, Miramar
