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Sand, bajri mafia

Following the ban on digging sand and bajri in Punjab, it is very difficult for the common man to buy the material for the construction of a home. However, a Cabinet minister of Punjab is running the mafia of sand and bajri. Trucks loaded with sand ply on roads and anyone can buy the material from them. No police official dares to stop them and question them because of fear of the politician who earns crores of rupees daily from the illegal business.

He is digging sand in the name of cleaning the Sutlej river.

RAMJAAN, Chhat, (Mohali)

Security panel exists

General S.S. Mehta’s articles dated May 21, 22 and 23 give the impression that there is nothing like a national security set-up nor a security policy in our country. Such an impression is fallacious. The author has proposed the formation of a national security commission, a non-statutory body of which PM should be the ex-officio chairman. However, the National Security Council (NSC) already exists and it has its office in Parliament Street, New Delhi. It forms an important component of the Prime Minister’s Office. Designed on the lines of the NSC of the USA and UK, it carries out several functions such as forming national security proposals, the likes of which are done in Australia, China, France, Germany, Israel, Iran, Japan, Spain and Russia. The NSC in New Delhi is staffed by several experts, both civil and military, and it reports directly to the PM’s Office as an advisory body which forms the basis of our national security policy.

Brig M.P. Singh, via post

Gandhis must quit

The Congress has ruled India for about 50 years and it is responsible for sowing the seeds of corruption, criminalisation of politics, dividing people on caste basis with the reservation policy for SCs, STs and OBCs for vote bank. The Congress could not remove poverty and illiteracy, though it had always been propagating to better the lot of the downtrodden people.

The UPA-I and UPA II regimes spanning the last 10 years are the worst as they were marked by scandals, frauds, skyrocketing inflation and raising of fuel and LPG prices. Indira Gandhi promulgated the Emergency in 1976, a black period in history.

The attack on its own people in Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 are always fresh in the minds of Indians. The Congress cannot be said a secular party as it had discriminated against Sikhs, who were in the forefront in getting independence and made more scarifies than the other compatriots.

Now the voters have rejected the Congress, but the Gandhi family is sticking to its positions. It is better if the reins of the party are handed over to other people and the party takes ‘sanyas’ from the dynastic rule.

Sher Singh, Ludhiana

Rid Cong of Gandhi tag

I am surprised at the wisdom of senior Congressman who competed with each other in stopping Sonia and Rahul Gandhi from quitting. I also agree with the person who said that resignation is not a solution during the CWC meeting. Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik performed much better than them.

Let us hope better sense prevails upon the Congressmen and they rid the party of the Gandhi tag.

Dr Naresh Raj, Patiala

Dynastic rule a bane

Apropos the article “Return of Congress difficult” by Kuldip Nayar (May 28), in 1977, it was the Emergency that did the Congres in, but in 2014, it was sheer inefficiency which made the party lick dust at the hustings.

With a comfortable majority and free hand to manage the affairs, Modi is committed to meeting the aspirations of the people. Even before settling on the Prime Minister’s chair, he played a masterstroke by inviting SAARC leaders in his oath-taking ceremony. It mesmerised the world.

Dynastic rule is the bane of the Congress, where secondary growth of cadre is prohibited and frowned upon. He who opposes the peactice or calls a spade a spade is shown the door. The party is full of Gandhi sycophants. In contrast, the BJP is firing on all cylinders, leaving little room for the return of the Congress.

Karnail Singh, Kharar

Big brother Modi

By inviting SAARC countries to his oath-taking ceremony, Prime Minister Modi has shown that he may lead South Asia as a big brother and move ahead as an engine of the bogies of other SAARC countries.

Er S K Mittal, Panchkula

Freedom fighters

What a pity that a British historian has characterised Bhagat Singh and Chandreshakhar Azad as terrorists and both were hanged for their revolt against foreign rule. The article “Calling freedom fighters terrorists” by Kuldip Nayar (March 13) rightly says that the British do not know the difference between a terrorist and a revolutionary. No one can deny that both Azad and Bhagat Singh were great patriots and sacrificed their lives happily for the motherland.

As a matter of fact, British were inhuman and dealt with Indians shabbily. Who can forget the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy of April 13, 1919, in Amritsar when General Dyer ordered the shooting of a large gathering of innocent people? More than 400 people were killed and 2,000 seriously injured. They have no sense of shame for their animal-like behaviour. Besides, the British hanged 100 freedom fighters in Balina, a town on the border of UP and Bihar, on August 9, 1942 and their bodies were dangled on trees for days to discourage the freedom struggle.

Subhash C Taneja, Gurgaon

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