VARNIKA SHOWS WAY TO OTHERS
The Chandigarh stalking case has been highlighted by the media and the country has stood by victim Varnika Kundu. But things would have been different had she been just a normal girl, not the daughter of an I AS officer. Nevertheless, the youth must take inspiration from her and fight against the evil. The girls, no matter what strata of society their families belongs to, need to learn from Varnika. She has shown the way to others.
Abhinav Grover, Amritsar
II
We should stand behind Var nika and make the public aware about the power of law. Had she been a daughter of a common man, I think even an FIR would not have been lodged against Vikas,s on of Ha ryan aB JP chief Sub ash Barala. People should be made aware about the right of equality before the law. And all girls should fight for justice whenever they face such a situation. Naman Sehgal, Amritsar III The Bar ala case is not an isolated one. It once again shows that wards of politicians, bureaucrats and the rich are brought up in an atmosphere wherein they are embued with all kinds of vices rather than virtues of character. Society in general, and parents and teachers in particular, are responsible for the character of our chidren. Raghunath Chhabra,
Chandigarh
IV
It seems that Chandigarh is not safe for girls at night. If girls are so vulnerable in a city like Chandigarh, we can imagine the situation in other cities. The administration must put its act together so that no girl feels unsafe and insecure. We must be grateful to Varnika who took a bold stand against the son of an influential politician. Gurbaj Singh V The case clearly shows the whip is always wielded by the mighty. It was only due to political pressure that the cops were unable to force accused Vikas and his friend Ashish to give their blood and urine samples for tests. The police must act as a protector of people rather than being puppets in the hands of politicians. Paraspreet Singh,
Ludhiana KUDOS TO ELECTION COMMISSION The Election Commission’s decision to declare the votes of two Congress MLAs in Gujarat for showing their ballot papers to B JP leaders during the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections is commendable. It does not matter who won or lost, but the fact that the poll panel refused to be bullied by the ruling party is a healthy development. This action will reinforce the faith of Indians in the pillars of democracy. Kamal Arora, Panchkula II The Election Commission’ s decision was based on the precedents that benefited the B JP in the past, particularly in Haryana and Raj as than, where Congress votes were declared invalid. The BJP welcomed the Election Commission move in those cases, but the party couldn’t digest a similar decision in Gujarat when it went against them. The BJP leaders tried their best to influence the EC. However, the poll panel did not budge and stood its ground after declaring the two votes invalid. Devinder Singh, Patiala III Kudos to Ahmed Patel for winning the Rajya Sabha seat. The persistent efforts of the Congress to save their MLAs from the horse-trading being indulged in by the B JP finally paid off. It is the defeat of abuse of money. This will increase the morale of the Congress in Gujarat. AshumKhan, Baddi IV Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have been adopting all kinds of unethical and immoral practices to destabilise Congress governments. They even use the state machinery to achieve their goal. What they did in Gujarat is before everybody, but they had to lick the dust in the end. Major Narinder Singh Jallo(retd), Mohali RUSTED CURRENCY The central government, especially finance minister A run Jaitley, must come clean on the Opposition’ s allegation that there are two sets of currency notes of ₹500 and ₹1000 in circulation. The finance minister has come out with an illogical, ridiculous explanation that notes printed in different printing machines can slightly differ in size. Shemsher B Singh,
Amritsar CHACHA OF BENGAL POLITICS Apropos the news item ‘Gyan Singh Sohanpal, Chacha of Bengal Politics, dies at 92’, Sohanpal participated in the Quit India movement. He was elected from Kharagpur constituency nine times. He was known for his honesty, frugal living and amicable behaviour. Narinder Singh Chandigarh