Earn the stripe
Sir — “Ektu shoru kore lagaben,” piped up the girl in the queue in front of me at the polling booth, leading the polling officer with the bottle of electoral ink to do a double take. The polling officer recovered from her astonishment and queried, “Eta ki nail polish naki?” But the girl in the queue is not alone in wanting an artful stroke of silver nitrate, the indelible ink used to mark voters’ fingers, on her digit. There are others who would like to put up aesthetic photographs of their inked fingers on social media. Alas, what was once a mark that voters wore with pride has now become a cosmetic stripe earned for social media.
Pranita Mukherjee, Calcutta
Dodgy prediction
Sir — Exit poll results by several agencies and news organisations predict that the National Democratic Alliance led by Narendra Modi will make a clean sweep and retain power for the third consecutive term. But exit polls can rarely be trusted. June 4 will tell if the NDA gets more than 360 seats as predicted while the INDIA bloc gets about 150.
However, no matter what the seat share, if Modi and the NDA come back to power, it will not be a bed of roses because issues like unemployment, inflation, economic inequality, corruption and so on will need to be tackled by the new government.
Sravana Ramachandran, Chennai
Sir — A third term seems to be on the cards for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA if exit polls are to be believed. However, the target of ‘chaar sau paar’ will clearly not be realised. This shows that even though people may have chosen the BJP, there are undercurrents of mistrust and dissatisfaction.
Dimple Wadhawan, Kanpur
Sir — While the INDIA bloc might scuttle Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘chaar sau paar’, according to the exit polls results, a defeat in these polls will be a real blow for the Congress. It is time for the party to introspect and be a constructive force in the Opposition.
N. Mahadevan, Chennai
Sir — As a septuagenarian, I have had the opportunity to witness several exit polls. In my experience, they do not reflect reality. As such, the decision of the Congress to not participate in speculative exit poll debates, which are nothing but political slugfests to raise TRP, is laudable.
Tharcius S. Fernando, Chennai
Unity at risk
Sir — In his article, “Unlearn the lessons” (May 31), T.M. Krishna asks a pertinent question, “Even if Modi is continuously spouting unacceptable comments, why are we not recognising the problem and demanding probity from him?” He is right. We are the problem.
India is a diverse country. It can only stay united if this diversity is respected. Fault lines among communities are being used to polarise the voters. This is a dangerous game. Not only does it keep real issues like rising unemployment, inflation, and inequality away from the political discourse but it also damages India’s pluralistic social fabric.
Sujit De, Calcutta
Dark lens
Sir — Bollywood has undergone a profound transformation in recent years. It has emerged as a platform for advancing the agenda of the ruling party. This trajectory began with the release of a biopic on the prime minister, Narendra Modi. Since then, films such as Uri, The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story and, now, Hum Do Hamare Baarah exemplify a shift in the cinematic landscape which casts specific communities as antagonists.
In stark contrast to earlier films, which deftly balanced the dual goals of entertaining audiences while delivering profound social messages, the current scope of Bollywood films appears to be defined by propaganda-laden cinematic spectacles.
Md. Imdadullah, Muzaffarpur
Health concern
Sir — The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has been mulling a proposal to make changes to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 to allow the substitution of drugs specified under schedules H, H1 and X with a view of promoting “quality generic medicines at affordable prices”. India has over 10,600 Janaushadhi Kendras — a network of generic drug stores as part of the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana.
But the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and leading drug makers have reached out to the Central government claiming that in the absence of regulatory oversight, spurious drugs may impact treatment. However, drugs made by big pharma companies are not always trustworthy either. A middle path must be devised so that patients can access quality treatment at affordable rates.
Basudeb Dutta, Nadia
Unjust term
Sir — A perverse combination of statutory restrictions and judicial deference has kept the scholar, Umar Khalid, in prison for over three years. Khalid’s continued and unjust incarceration is a blot on India’s criminal justice system. He is in jail for daring to speak truth to power.
Sreyasi Ghosh, New Delhi
