Sir — It pains one to learn that the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Tollygunge, Babul Supriyo, questioned the mandate of the voters of Bengal after the Trinamul Congress’s landslide victory. He even went on to call Mamata Banerjee a ‘cruel lady’. It was the voters of Bengal who elected him to the 16th and 17th Lok Sabhas and, in 2019, rewarded his party with 18 Lok Sabha seats.

It seems that it is an inherent trait of BJP leaders to blame everyone except themselves for any kind of failure. Be it the Central government’s flawed policies with regard to controlling the second wave of the pandemic or the poll results of Bengal, they always refrain from taking responsibility. It is not the voters of Bengal but the overconfidence of the party — it relied on the strategy of communal polarization instead of emphasizing the core issues that Bengal faces, such as the lack of industry, unequal pay for para-teachers, or unemployment — that led to their loss at the hustings. Perhaps the BJP ignored such problems because its governments — at the Centre or in states — do not have a very impressive scorecard on such parameters either.

One hopes the BJP leadership will learn from its mistakes and conduct proper scrutiny within the party.

Nilutpal Maitra,
Howrah

Sir — At the core of the idea of democracy lies the will of the people. As such, disrespecting the people’s verdict by calling it a ‘mistake’ is a rather disappointing move, especially coming from a Union minister like Babul Supriyo.

Supriyo should have taken a leaf out of the books of his seniors in the party — even the prime minister congratulated Mamata Banerjee on her win — and accepted defeat with grace. His reaction was immature

Tanushree Ghoshal,
Calcutta

New risk

Sir — Scientists have recently found out that certain disposable face masks release toxic chemicals when submerged in water. This is a matter of grave concern. It has become a common practice among many Indians to wash and re-use their masks. This could lead to a new health hazard. Further, improper disposal of used masks in or near water bodies could result in large-scale contamination.

Aditi Goswami,
New Delhi