Muslim women• I REFER to Arif Mohammed Khan’s article, ‘Kya karega kazi’(IE, July 28). It is an enlightened man’s view on a sensitive issue, concerning the plight of nearly half the Muslim population — several crores of Muslim women. The tragedy is that Arif Saheb’s is a rather lonely voice championing the cause of the perpetually suppressed voice of Muslim women.We have eminent Muslim women as social or political leaders like Najma Heptullah and Mohsina Kidwai. There are many Muslim doctors, lawyers, teachers and professionals in our secular country. As an ardent crusader for women’s empowerment, I would like ask these eminent Muslim women: what are you doing to win the support of such a solid block of women? Non-Muslim women leaders, whether Sonia Gandhi, Teesta Setalvad, Ila Pathak, Sushma Swaraj or Mamata Banerjee, should speak up on behalf of India’s disadvantaged Muslim women. It is a great cause and requires the united voice of the women of India to make it impossible for Muslim men-folk to surrender their better judgment to the sickeningly oppressive diktats of the Muslim clergy, a prime cause of Muslim backwardness.— Parimal Y. Mehta, BarodaFootloose in Goa• THIS refers to your editorial, ‘Speaking for democracy’ (IE, July 31). While the mandate two months ago did foreshadow a situation like this, given that most legislators of Goa are known for being very footloose, the sequence of events of July 30 are shocking. The Speaker has set himself a simple objective of saving his party’s government. So, before taking the voice vote, he disqualifies two MLAs, prevents another from voting and then casts his own vote in favour of his own party. But when the judiciary pronounces a verdict of ultra vires in cases of this kind, large sections of our polity attack the judiciary. If the CM’s wants us to believe his words that the defecting MLAs were offered large sums of money to subvert the people’s mandate and bring down the government, he should demand a probe to find out how the vested interests who financed the operation reflect this expense in their IT returns.— Prasad Malladi; Basivireddypeta, Nidadavole Local solidarity• WE are shocked and appalled by the police firing at Mudigonda village in Andhra Pradesh during the state-wide bandh on July 28, which led to loss of lives and serious injuries to a large number of people. The fact that the firing occurred despite the chief minister’s instructions to the police, according to his own statement, not to use force during the bandh underscores the extent of police high-handedness. But such high-handedness cannot be explained without reference to the repressive manner in which the state government has sought to deal with the movement for land by the poor. Over 3000 cases have been filed against the leaders of the movement, and thousands have been sent to jail. Instead of dealing with the mass upsurge of the poor with sympathy and in a manner consistent with its own electoral promises, the state government has embarked on a futile and dangerous attempt to crush the movement. We appeal to the state government to desist from this course, we express our total solidarity with the mass upsurge of the poor for land, and we demand the state government take immediate steps to distribute the 60 lakh acres of land, which are in its possession according to the Rangarao Committee report.— Ashok Mitra, Amiya Kumar Bagchi and others, Kolkata
