Unwelcoming city
Sir — Moving to an unknown city can be a challenging experience, especially if one is moving to a city that has been dubbed as one of the unfriendliest cities in the world. A recent ranking by the Community Spirit Index features Mumbai, India’s hub of commerce and entertainment, as the third-most unfriendly city in the world. Ironically, thousands flock to Mumbai in search of better futures. Despite its unwelcoming ambience, Mumbai attracts one of the highest numbers of migrants and has some of the busiest inter-state railway routes in India. It seems like Mohammad Rafi got it absolutely right when he crooned, “Ae dil hai mushkil jeenayahan” about Mumbai in the song, Yeh Hain Bombay Meri Jaan.
Reham Almutairi,Mumbai
Telling silence
Sir — Despite being accused of sexually harassing several wrestlers, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian and chief of the Wrestling Federation of India, has not only gone scot-free so far but is also organising rallies and declaring that he will contest elections from Kaiserganj (“Brij sends UP rally ‘message’ to leaders”, June 12). This is a despicable show of power and will surely compromise the investigation against Singh.
Babulal Das,North 24 Parganas
Sir — Vinesh Phogat has expressed her disappointment at the prime minister’s silence on the allegations of sexual harassment against the WFI chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (“Vinesh questions PM silence”, June 11). It is disheartening that Narendra Modi has not said a word on the issue to assuage the wrestlers’ fears.
Jahangir Ali,Mumbai
Steep price
Sir — The Union home minister, Amit Shah, has appealed to the people at a rally in Tamil Nadu to elect 25 allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 general elections as a gesture of gratitude towards the prime minister for installing the sengol in the new Parliament building (“Shah quotes ‘price’ of sengol: 25 TN seats”, June 12). This exposes the BJP’s true intentions behind hyping the Chola sceptre. In spite of academic controversies about the origin of the sceptre, the BJP has continued to highlight the sengol in order to appease the people of Tamil Nadu.
Kamal Laddha,Bengaluru
Sir — The Union home minister’s efforts to woo voters from Tamil Nadu by highlighting the sengol will bear no fruit for the BJP in the 2024 elections. Voters cannot be duped by fabricating fantastic stories.
Ranganathan Sivakumar,Chennai
Distorted image
Sir — Three of India’s closest neighbours, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, have objected to the so-called ‘Akhand Bharat’ mural in the new Parliament building. The Centre’s narrative of the mural depicting a unified India has fallen short given the rise in ethnic and religious violence in the country. The Indian government has failed to resolve border disputes not only with aggressive countries like China but also with friendlier neighbours like Nepal. Dreams of an ‘Akhand Bharat’ are inimical to the government’s aspiration of being a strong player globally.
Shovanlal Chakraborty,Calcutta
Grave charges
Sir — The erstwhile president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, will go down in history as the first former president to face federal charges for mishandling classified documents (“Trump springs ‘final battle’”, June 12). Hopefully, the American democracy is resilient enough to ride through this period of unrest.
G. David Milton,Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Sir — The 37-count federal indictment of Donald Trump includes charges of violating the Espionage Act, obstructing justice, and the issuing of false statements. In spite of this, the incumbent US president, Joe Biden, who has announced his candidature for the 2024 presidential election, does not appear to be a formidable opponent against Trump. It remains to be seen if the indictment against Trump will dampen or reinvigorate his third presidential campaign.
Gregory Fernandes,Mumbai
Unlawful behaviour
Sir — It is shocking thatthe Trinamul Congress leader, Abhishek Banerjee, was denied entry to a temple at the spiritual abode of the Matua community by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader and junior Union minister, Shantanu Thakur (“Abhishek denied entry to Matua shrine”, June 12). What is even more shocking is the alleged assault on women by the Central Industrial Security Force personnel guarding the BJP leaders. This shows the BJP’s scant regard for the law.
Arun Gupta,Calcutta
Rich legacy
Sir — Western educational systems in India were introduced by the British (“Macaulay’s trap”, June 12). T.B. Macaulay’s vision might have been Eurocentric but he believed that India had the potential to be one of the largest English-speaking and educated colonies of the Empire. Even though widespread education is technically a colonial legacy, it has enabled India to excel in several fields.
H.N. Ramakrishna,Bengaluru
Zero tolerance
Sir — The menace of plastic waste is not given the importance it deserves (“Plastic surgery”, June 12). The latest initiative by close to 170 nations to prepare a ‘zero-draft’ for an international treaty to end plastic pollution is laudable. It proposes to set a definite deadline to tackle the issue of plastic waste.
K. Nehru Patnaik,Visakhapatnam
