Last supper
Sir — From the last supper of Jesus Christ to the scrumptious dinner that Ernest Hemingway partook of before ending his life, a person’s culinary desires before death provide interesting glimpses of his or her personality. It was thus interesting to learn about the contents of the last meal of a teenage tyrannosaur — a specimen of the fossilised stomach showed that it had dined on the drumsticks of two bird-like dinosaurs. While it is heartening that the young dinosaur did not die hungry, its diet reveals that like their human counterparts, teenaged dinos, too, had a taste for fast food.
Sukriti Roy, Mumbai
Security breach
Sir — Two youths breached the security apparatus of the new Parliament building as the winter session was underway. They jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber shouting slogans and created chaos by releasing yellow smoke from canisters (“Smoke signals LS breach”, Dec 14). Such a major security lapse is unacceptable and is detrimental to the safety of parliamentarians. That the attack coincided with the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack suggests glaring gaps in the security arrangements of the new Parliament building.
This is not the time for a blame game. The government and the Opposition should join ranks to secure the House. The Parliament security staff should maintain a strict vigil on visitors.
Dimple Wadhawan, Kanpur
Sir — The major security breach in the new Parliament building came a few days after the Khalistani terrorist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, threatened to attack Parliament on or before the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 attack. Further, one of the accused was issued a visitors’ gallery pass by the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian from Karnataka, Pratap Simha. This amounts to a total breakdown of the security apparatus of Parliament. The government must carry out a thorough investigation of the incident;
the staff from the lowest rungs should be marshalled to be on alert for any nuisance. Simha should be held accountable for his action.
Samares Bandyopadhyay, Calcutta
Sir — The attack on Parliament on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack is a blot on democracy. In spite of its lofty rhetoric on securing the nation’s borders, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party dispensation has fallen woefully short of ensuring the sanctity of the Parliament building. The incompetence of the security staff as well as the Delhi Police in failing to prevent such a breach must be looked into.
The parliamentarians overpowered the intruders and beat them up before handing them over to security personnel. This is no different from hooliganism, a mailaise that has become common these days owing to the tacit support of the ruling dispensation. It should have been avoided inside the sanctum sanctorum of democracy.
S. Kamat, Alto Santa Cruz, Goa
Sir — The attack on Parliament on Wednesday was reminiscent of the bombing of the central assembly by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt on April 8, 1929. In the latest incident, even as two intruders raised slogans inside the Lok Sabha, chanting “Tanasahi nahi chalegi”, two others sprayed coloured gas and protested against inflation and the rise of unemployment and autocracy outside Parliament. The saffron party has a proclivity for blaming the minority community for every problem in the country. However, it cannot do so this time since most of the accused are Hindus.
Shovanlal Chakraborty, Calcutta
Sir — How two men carrying smoke canisters got past the high-level Parliament security check is a million-dollar question. The fact that such an attack took place in the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling upholding the abrogation of Article 370 warrants a deeper look.
N.R. Ramachandran, Chennai
Sir — The government must carry out an extensive investigation to identify the mastermind behind the Parliament attack. The factors that caused the transgression must also be looked into. The horrors of the 2001 Parliament attack are still fresh in the memory. The Union home ministry should ensure that such incidents do not recur.
Madhusudan Mulabagal, Bengaluru
Role reversal
Sir — The Jewish past as victims of the Holocaust has shaped Israel’s current role as the aggressor in the conflict with Hamas (“Narratives change”, Dec 12). But Israel must not solely be blamed. The Palestinian terrorist group is responsible for starting the current flare-up. Both sides should work on dialing down the conflict.
Aranya Sanyal, Siliguri
Unfair diktat
Sir — A recent directive by Jawaharlal Nehru University prohibits all forms of political activity within a 100-metre radius of the administrative and the academic buildings. This is disconcerting. Students have the constitutional right to protest.
Agniswar Bhattacharya, Hooghly
