Outlook’s cover story on the gau rakshaks running amok, as well as the socio-economic effects of their action (Four Stomachs To Fill, Aug 15), was gripping. The war of the so-called gau rakshaks is really a war against Dalit and Muslim livelihood. These cow vigilantes are the descendants of the bajrangis who went on killing, raping and burning people in Gujarat in 2002 with silent and tacit support from their then chief minister.
Anwaar, Dallas
One need not cite data to state the obvious—atrocities against Dalits and Muslims have multiplied in these two years. The police either remains a mute spectator, failing to enforce the rule of law, or even joins thugs to deliver quick ‘justice’. The standard response of the Union home ministry in every serious incident is the same: “Law and order is a state subject. Justice will be done and the guilty shall not be spared.” The long, studied silence of an otherwise voluble PM was taken as support by mobs operating in the name of the ‘holy’ cow, at least till he spoke. Yes, all the recent speechifying by politicians of all hues on the flogging of Una Dalits was unprecedented. But cheap populist propaganda and seasonal political moves will not help the Dalits.
J.S. Acharya, Hyderabad
The ‘holy cow’ has turned into a Trojan horse for the ruling dispensation. Alas, the saffron fort is sought to be defended by pet vigilantes acting on their own.
Rajneesh Batra, Delhi
Cow vigilantism, gaushalas and gau raksha samitis are all the new ‘startups’ inaugurated with the sole objective of milking society and garnering government subsidy.
V.N.K., On E-Mail
There are so many things that are wrong in India that require governance. Instead, India has added another wrong to its unending list of woes. The country has now entered a period of what can be called cow terrorism, thanks to Modi and his tribe. It appears politicians have taken it into their hands to further ruin this great land of ours.
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
Dalits, for no reason whatsoever, are being made victims of the brutal and inhuman phenomenon—cow protection vigilantism. Traditionally, Dalits skin dead cattle, salvage the skin and dispose the carcass. But, the acts of self-styled vigilantes today have disrupted everything. As you have correctly pointed out, what’s happening is not peaceful ‘gau raksha’, but a violent attempt at communal consolidation.
Col C.V. Venugopalan (retd), Palakkad
Mission gau raksha is nothing but an unholy loot by vigilante squads. These people give a damn if vagabond cows roam the streets, feed on garbage or die of disease contracted by eating plastic and other toxic rubbish.
Rakesh Agarwal, Dehradun
Before the advent of the machine age, the cow was indeed the lifeline of the rural economy—taking care of the households’ needs, and then giving them income from surplus dairy products. With the arrival of tractors and other things, its importance has considerably lessened. And in urban areas, no one cares about cows roaming freely and feeding on refuse of all types. Vigilantism, violence and killing people in the name of the cow is totally unacceptable.
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
The vigilantism of gau rakshaks not only showcases the mechanisation of right-wing fanatics to push through their extreme ideology by all means, but also throws up a glaring irony: In a country where countless humans live abjectly on the streets, some people have the energy to violently stand up for the cow!
George Jacob, Kochi
Jagadish Shettigar’s Jump Cut (Everyone Gets a Cut, Aug 15) was brilliant. However, the Modi government’s friends have let loose goondas masquerading as cow protectors simply to isolate Muslims and Dalits. Instead of helping India grow, Modi has added another big problem.
DK, On E-Mail
There is one aspect Shettigar doesn’t mention—that there are certain tribal and ‘panchama’ communities who do revere the cow, but also eat beef. Not just that, for some communities, the main livelihood is processing and tanning the cow hide which is used for many things like footwear, bags, water containers etc. Moreover, in villages, the bull calf (in certain cases) is considered as a burden as it is not suitable either as a draught animal or for agricultural work. Such calfs are usually given away or sold to Dalits or Muslims. It’s clear that the complex socio-economic and syncretic Indian social and religious structure can’t be put in straitjackets and classified as Hindu, non-Hindu etc. This was understood by great statesmen of antiquity, like the great Kautilya.
T. Nayak, Washington
“The jibe ‘arhar Modi’ was introduced to national press by Krishna Prasad of Outlook.”
V.N.K. Murti Pattambi, Pattambi
This is with reference to your Leader comment: We, The Viewers (Aug 15). For the last 25 years, Doordarshan has been blaring out soft, namby-pamby ‘sickular’ propaganda. One could always see a lone BJP leader pitted against many ‘secularists’ and a biased anchor in the channel’s debates. The author is clearly not in favour of DD now, as it has come under the control of the BJP. After many decades, only now is another side open to the audience.
Masa, On E-Mail
In The Other Kashmir Family Album (Aug 8), the purpose, ostensibly, of the members of the Pakistani civil society group in putting up such a mock-sympathetic letter campaign addressed to Indian celebrities was to go viral with provocative content—a sort of dark emotional blackmail. I was disgusted and appalled to see it. I also learnt a lesson from this today—one is exposed to such nasty and stupid things because of social media. I also failed to understand, with regard to the references made in those letters, how boys not indulging stone-pelting at the forces could be injured by pellets. If they were only going to buy milk, how could they come in the line of pellet fire?
G.L. Karkal, Pune
The photoshopped pictures are in bad taste. Allegedly, the victims injured are, “The teenager who had stepped out for getting milk, the boy who was going for tuition, the one who was returning from cricket practice.” All this is highly unlikely as, at the time, curfew had been imposed in Kashmir. What do 15 police personnel do when a mob of 500 stone-pelting fanatics are out to attack them and snatch their weapons?
Rajiv Chopra, Jammu
Operation #betiuthao (The Sangh’s Stolen Child Crusade, August 8) is probably the most courageous report of the decade. Outlook and the author take great risk by revealing another ugly face of the RSS and how it is trying to destroy the social and secular fabric of the nation. But, with a pracharak at the helm, the RSS is stronger than ever. Their crimes seem to be immediately whitewashed. Their paid media critics can literally distort the authenticity of any report. These are dark times for freedom.
B.I., Mumbai
The trafficking of 31 tribal children from Assam by Sangh parivar cadres, on the pretext of giving them education, is extremely sad. The refusal to let them speak to their parents is denial of justice to them. What is the Assam government doing about this and why are the Punjab and Gujarat governments still silent on the issue?
M.Y. Shariff, Chennai
The rebuttal, Conjured Crime (Aug 15), seems only to be high-winded rhetoric. Not even a single sentence in this rebuttal addresses any relevant question or disputes the facts in the original article.
T. Nayak, Washington
In the August 1 issue of the Outlook magazine, The Catechism of Control, a column written by Dhiraj Singh, a former executive director (programming) with Lok Sabha TV, who ceased to operate with effect from July 14 due to non-performance, has come to our notice. Singh had been issued as many as two dozen memos in the last one year for grossly showing non-punctuality and incompetence. It was indeed amusing to see how Singh portrayed himself as a political martyr through his unsubstantiated stories.
It is quite ironic that Singh has taken the names of the offices of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, attributing unsavoury incidents to both these offices, and to some of their key officials. The series of Singh’s wild allegations, after his termination, are completely baseless and unwarranted and levelled only to serve his personal goals. It is unfortunate that Outlook published the column without checking the veracity of its contents. Through a mixture of rants and concocted stories, Singh has attempted to change the administrative and official discourse to reap cheap publicity and divert the attention of readers from real issues. In this backdrop of unverified facts having surfaced in the magazine, and that too with regard to the mighty and prestigious LSTV, the professional ethics of Outlook stand in doubt. The editor of the magazine is directed to come in person or send a representative and see the facts prima facie and publish the views of the Lok Sabha secretariat in the forthcoming issue and apologise.
Seema Gupta, LSTV CEO, New Delhi
This is with reference to your article on the Antrix-Devas deal (Smoke From A Failed Launch, Aug 8). While Outlook, under its secular man’s burden, leaves no stone unturned to display its aggression against the BJP, it is thoroughly mild even if the Congress commits a grave mistake. Does the magazine take its readers to be naive? This particular article, besides being mild in its criticism towards the Congress on the blunder it has committed with the Antrix-Devas deal, also fails to carry out sincere investigation.
Suneet Mishra, On E-Mail
Apropos When the Favelas go to the Marcana (Aug 15), thank god the Olympics in Rio have no game for politics. India did have a bright chance of winning medals as Indians in sports are excelling today. Even if medals aren’t won, the hard work put in by our athletes deserves much appreciation.
M. Kumar, Delhi
This is with reference to your story on GST (Gimme Some Truth About the GST, Aug 15). While clearance of the GST bill is welcome news for business people, it is to be noted that the price of some essential services items, where only service tax is applicable at present, will go up. It should also be understand that benefits to business from tax reductions must reach consumers, a practice that has not been implemented in the past. In order to reduce taxes as applicable to one item or transaction, all taxes must be clubbed. Stamp duty must be abolished as one pays income tax, property tax and other kind of taxes.
Mahesh Kapasi, On E-Mail
The cover story related to the unrest in Kashmir (The Face That Lit the Valley, July 25) was clearly one-sided since it reflected only ‘separatist’ sentiments. The magazine could have carried at least one piece regarding the government’s perspective to lend some balance to the narrative.
Anil K. Joshi, Ranikhet
The raw deal that Dhiraj Singh got at the hands of his boss at Lok Sabha TV (The Catechism of Control, Aug 1) is not an isolated instance. People who are more competent than their seniors in several departments under the government have been suffering such humiliation as they refuse to massage the egos of their bosses. Instances of this are all the more brazen in so-called autonomous organisations. Despite the “merit-irrespective-of-seniority” clause, which exists in the rulebook, incompetent people are allowed to sail through the channel or someone with political backing is imposed from above and given a carte blanche to adopt dubious methods to run down their juniors on one pretext or another. Now, the government, in line with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, has decided to retire the deadwood. Will the government live up to its decision?
Mitranand Kukreti, Delhi
Apropos your story on the Election Commission (Commission of Omission, Aug 8), the petition alleging Smriti Irani claimed different educational qualifications in 2004, 2011 and 2014 is factually irrelevant because educational qualification is not a requisite for the membership of a legislative house. Why ask for information not needed to ascertain whether the contestant is qualified for the membership? For the common man, the most unfair and annoying part is the omission of the names of valid voters without any reason whatsoever. After every election, the press reports a number of such cases. What’s worse, the EC adds insult to injury in not responding at all to the communiques of the complainant.
J.N. Bhartiya, Hyderabad
