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Conmen godmen

The meteoric rise and subsequent hazardous bullheadedness of greedy mind-washers (babas) is a result of various blind-eyed and incapable government agencies, all of which must be held responsible and tried. It's unreal how we make conmen into godmen. Any self-styled baba like Rampal Das befools people easily because most people are uneducated, emotional and unenlightened.

In the last four years, Rampal Das has skipped court 43 times and this time to evade arrest, he used his followers as shields. Resultantly, five women and a baby lost their lives in his Barwala ashram. Shame on such gurus. Strong laws to strip these guys of their wealth are needed.

AMIT SACHDEVA, Ferozepur

Photo unethical

With the news story “HC cancels Rampal's bail, sends him to jail” (November 21), a picture of Rampal in jail has been published. The caption reads: “Rampal inside the lock-up at the Sector 5 police station in Panchkula on Thursday.” This is a violation of basic media ethics. Rampal is an accused. If he is convicted, he will go to jail, otherwise he will be set free. It is not appropriate for anyone to be shown inside a jail, specially before trial. This amounts to trial by media.

Dr Amrinder Arora, Washington DC

Shun blind faith

Kudos to the judiciary, the Haryana Government and the police for slapping a case of murder on self-styled godman Rampalfollowing the death of five women and one infant in his ashram. For committing previous heinous crimes, he needs to be kept behind bars, awarded stringent punishment and stripped of all powers so that in future such offenders do not dare to commit evil misdeeds.

A large section of people is being carried away by the lure of such sadhus and is blindly following them. The rise of scamsters such as Rampal to position of a revered godman is a reflection of the dangers of blind faith. Playing god has become a flourishing business for unscrupulous elements in our country.

Harpreet Sandhu, Ludhiana

Rise of babas

I endorse the argument: “to be fair, politicians of all hues hobnob with godmen, including those facing criminal charges” given tin the editorial “Tragedy of errors” (November 21). Factors such as low literacy, poverty and unemployment provide a fertile ground for godmen to flourish in our country. Such godmen exploit people for their vested interests. Unfortunately, many politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats are also seen attending their congregations and seeking their blessings.

Ordinary but hawkish men turn into godmen because of our medieval beliefs. Most of these self-styled gods live in style, move in luxury cars and run parallel governments, posing a threat to the State. A true saint loves all and hates none. But Rampal criticised and condemned Swami Dayanand, founder of the Arya Samaj, antagonised a large section of villagers in Rohtak district and tried to belittle the judges by disobeying their orders to appear in court.

Dr RAJ BAHADUR YADAV, Fatehabad

Faith or lack of it?

Apropos the editorial “Tragedy of errors”, why are Rampal’s followers fighting against the court orders? Is it because of their high faith in the godman or because of their very low faith in the judicial system, of which they are victims and experience it daily? A common man feels that a court is not ‘nyayalya’, but ‘tareekhalya’, where he keeps getting dates in cases pending in the courts.

Prof K K Garg, Chandigarh

Judicial activism

This is judicial activism at its best. The CBI chief, Ranjit Sinha, has been asked by the Supreme Court to stay away from the 2G case proceedings. However, it is sad for the nation because people had faith in the CBI. After this incident, people will be suspicious and not demand CBI enquiries. Who should they trust now?

The CBI chief should resign on moral grounds. If the judiciary takes such strict actions in future as well, then people’s faith in the judiciary would be restored.

SHIVAM CHANANA, Ferozepur

Kisan Vikas Patra

The relaunch of the Kisan Vikas Patra is welcome inasmuch as it will improve the savings kitty of the government. However, there is no denying the fact that the instrument, being as good as currency notes, can be used to hide unaccounted cash from the tax authorities. Still, it will curb the outflow of black money from our country to other havens to a large extent and the savings can be utilised for developmental activities.

ASHOK K. ASHU, Patiala

Smarten Yamunanagar

There is a lot of talk these days about creating new smart cities. But what about improving the pitiable condition of most of our existing towns and cities which lack even the basic civic amenities? They are overcrowded, dirty and choking due to unplanned construction, traffic chaos and filth. Most cities do not have 24-hour uninterrupted supplies of fresh water or power nor planned housing, proper roads, satisfactory garbage collection and disposal and adequate local transportation systems.

One such city is Yamunanagar, the number two district in Haryana in terms of revenue collection after Gurgaon. This town never had a godfather. There is definitely great scope for developing this region for tourism because of its geographical positioning with so many tourist attractions around it.

Subhash Kaura, via email

Poor bus service

There is hardly any bus from Gohana to Panipat after 4.30 pm. The buses that arrive after one-hour gaps from Rohtak are filled to capacity due to which it is very difficult to board them or get a seat. Gohana is growing and many banks and other companies have offices in the town. Most of the staff comes from Panipat and Rohtak. Many people can be seen waiting for a bus to Panipat at the Gohana bus stand in the evenings. They are forced to travel in jeeps, whose drivers pack them in like animals and often drive rashly. The authorities must ply more buses between 5 pm and 6 pm.

Vijay Kumar, Gohana