Fickle minds

Sir — It seems that there is no end to drama in politics. Only a few days back, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Babul Supriyo, had proclaimed on social media that he would quit politics. In spite of editing his post — he removed the point where he had said that he would not be joining any other party for which he later gave a dubious explanation — he stuck to his decision of quitting.

Now, within two days, Supriyo has changed his mind again. After a meeting with the party president, J.P. Nadda, Supriyo has decided to stay on in the BJP, and serve as a member of parliament. One would think that welfare of the masses requires people who are determined by nature to be at the helm. Clearly, that is not the case. But can one blame leaders lower in the party’s ladder? If the prime minister sets the norm of taking sudden measures at will — demonetization and the national lockdown included — other members of the party can do little but follow suit.

Pratiksha Biswas,
Calcutta

Sir — Babul Supriyo recently declared that he was quitting politics and rescinded his claim soon after. People often leave and join political parties but this announcement was different. Supriyo made no bones about stating that he was upset at having been dropped from the Union cabinet.

Supriyo has had it rough with the BJP’s state unit as well. He has not been on good terms with state chief, Dilip Ghosh, or, indeed, much of the unit itself. Known for his short temper, he has courted controversy several times. He was once caught on camera allegedly slapping his own party worker and, on another occasion,threatening a man to break his leg at a function for the differently abled. His resignation was dramatic too. If Supriyo wanted to resign as an MP, he should have followed protocol. Instead, he took to social media to stir up a storm in a teacup. In any case, as expected, Supriyo has found a way to retain his position.

Bhagwan Thadani,
Mumbai

in the open

Sir — The activist, Bezwada Wilson, called out the Union government on its claim that no one died on account of manual scavenging in the last five years by asserting that at least 472 manual scavengers lost their lives while cleaning human excreta during this period and adding that it was a conservative figure.

The government was too clever by half when it used the term, ‘manual scavenging’, in the narrow sense of cleaning dry latrines to deny the deaths. Cleaning septic tanks and sewers, too, is manual scavenging. This denial on the part of the Centre has inevitably drawn comparison with its recent denial of deaths of critically ill Covid-19 patients owing to oxygen shortage. The government has clearly developed the habit of denying unpalatable truths to save its image.

The practice of manual scavenging should end not just because it involves the risk of death but also because it is a remnant of the caste system built on outdated notions. The regressive view that manual scavenging is an ‘internal spiritual activity’ no less than the prime minister made this claim — must change. Its prevalence as an inherited occupation in spite of its ban invalidates India’s claim to modernity. Provided it gets its priorities right and has the political will, the government can put in place systems for human waste disposal and take steps to empower manual scavengers.

G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu