2 Women Allege Rape, 3 Scribes Beaten Up in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The first phase of the panchayat polls in West Bengal was marked by several incidents of violence on Sunday, especially Nandigram in East Midnapore district. Violence was also recorded from Burdwan, West Midnapore and Purulia districts.



At Bandoyan, Purulia, a landmine explosion by Maoists blew up a patrolling Border Security Force vehicle, killing three. Incidentally, three journalists from a television channel who went to cover the incident were beaten up by BSF jawans and are reportedly in a critical state.



But the spotlight was on CRPF deputy inspector general, Aloke Raj, who is leading its companies in Nandigram. On Sunday morning, two women of Sonachura village, Nandigram, filed an FIR alleging Raj molested them on Saturday night. But Raj said the FIR was baseless. “I was in the CRPF camp at Rajaramchwak on Saturday night and I feel the false FIR has been filed to de-motivate me from performing my duties,” he said.

Source: Sulekha News

Are we a good host to our guests?

Atithi Devo Bhava! This is what India is known for; giving warm hospitality to her guests/visitors. But the scenario is not same. We cannot even encourage guests not more than a day or two in our homes due to growing socio-economical problems.

But the government is not suffering from any such problem, except with ‘Minorities’ syndrome’. That is why the UPA govt has grown insensitive towards Taslima Nasreen’s issue. It's true that a guest should behave like a guest. But everyone knows that the author has not done anything to threaten the integrity of her adopted nation. She might have hurt the sentiments of her people in her writings, but only a small group is upset about it.

That doesn’t mean that the spine-less government should go by the views of a few people and suffocate the writer. Then the yardstick should be same for MF Hussain too. The painter should not be allowed to enter into India for showing Hindu gods and goddesses in a bad light in his works. Instead of making the life of the acclaimed author miserable, the government should make the Muslim heads come for a talk to resolve the issue.

As the author has already tendered her apology, the clergy should accept it gracefully and allow the author to live freely in her favourite home Kolkata. It’s painful to read that Taslima has decided to leave India for some other country.

If that happens, we should remove the word Atithi Devo Bhava from the ancient relics and the Indian tourism department should immediately change its slogan as we are no more a hospitable host.