RAM RAHIM VERDICT

India watched with admiration as the judiciary acted tough on Haryana’s law and order situation and forced the state to act against rampant misdeeds conducted under the garb of spirituality. It is no secret that politicians make a beeline at the fiefdoms of such godmen. The cost of such patronage is paid by gullible common folks, whose mandate is twisted in deference to their loyalty.

Gunbir Singh, Amritsar

II

The Congress and other opposition parties have demanded the dismissal of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar holding him responsible for the recent Panchkula volence. What makes them think that Khattar’s removal will solve all the problems? No doubt, an unfortunate incident of this magnitude should not have occurred but there appears no major lapse in tackling the situation by the government keeping in view the volatile circumstances. I feel no other government could have handled the situation in a better way.

TR Goyal, Chandigarh

III

On 25 August, peace seemed to have taken wings and flown away from Panchkula resulting in the death of 33 people. The 20-year sentence awarded to Ram Rahim is a deterrent. It is heinous that the convict did not spare his own devotees. This judgment is a testimony to the belief that deterrent law and better quality of investigation and prosecution are required to take rape and other criminal cases to their logical end in courts.

Dr Soshil Rattan, Amritsar

IV

Apropos ‘Dera devotees’ Panchkula mayhem: A frenzy foreseen, yet lessons learnt at loss of lives’ (HT, Aug 31), if you take out ‘God’ and religion, everything can be hunky-dory and peaceful in the society, sans exploitation. Get rid of fake gods and fake religions and save the society. We Indians should adopt a new religion as enshrined by Swami Vivekananda, ‘Be good, do good,’ that covers all scriptures of all religions. It is a human tragedy that the maximum deaths and damages have taken place in the name of religion.

BM Singh, Amritsar

V

The recent arrest of Ram Rahim could be the best example of being ditched by friend-turned-foe. Everybody knows that the Dera Sacha Sauda chief had extended support to the BJP in Haryana in the 2014 assembly elections because the CBI was under the BJP’s central government. But still he was proven guilty in the rape case by the CBI court. This shows that all the religious deras and political parties work only for vote bank politics.

Navneet Seth, Dhuri

VI

The recent fervent appeals of Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and SGPC President Kirpal Singh Badungar to Dera Sacha Sauda followers to return ‘home’ and join the ‘mainstream Sikhism’ were not heard for the past three decades. Their present alacrity smacks of backdoor prodding from their ‘masters’ in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), read Badals. SAD does not want to let go of the dera voters, who are a significant rural electorate. The otherwise outspoken Akali leaders and spokespersons haven’t even once condemned the dera head for his misdeeds. No wonder, religion and politics is a heady brew for Akalis.

PPS Gill