Man’s inhumanity to man could not have been demonstrated more vividly and dreadfully than as in the blast sites — churches and hotels — in Sri Lanka. Of particular poignancy were the photographs of inconsolably wailing kin of the victims taken moments after the Easter Day tragedy. These images went viral on the social media. It was uniquely tragic that the worshippers were killed while observing Easter. Clearly, they were a soft target. Christians constitute just 7.4 per cent of the Sri Lankan population and are a peace-loving community. In the attacks on the luxury hotels was a dire warning to those who plan a sight-seeing tour of the island of indescribable scenic beauty. The choice of the timing and place of the attacks indicated the intention to cause mass carnage. The perpetrators of the crime are said to be Sri Lankan nationals. They were so motivated that they acted as suicide bombers. However, it is evident from the scale and savagery of the wave of coordinated attacks that they received outside support. The sophistication, coordination and meticulousness with which the attacks were carried out meant the involvement of those with expertise and resources beyond the shores of Sri Lanka. These appalling attacks underscore the destructive power of religious intolerance and hatred and the need to repudiate violence and replace it with non-violence tempered with love.

G David Milton

Maruthancode, TN

Communication and culture

Apropos the edit ‘Stop it now’ (April 22), the quality of vocabulary of a political leader in public discourse is determined by the quality of his political upbringing, his party’s ethos system, his maturity and the response he gets from the target group. The speeches during 2019 election time have become alarmingly personal and uncouth.

In particular, this election has projected gender bias far beyond the limits of decency. The Election Commission should simplify and accelerate the procedure to take action against the offenders. The decision to act against them should be decentralised at the State level with only complaints against the prime minister and chief ministers decided at the top.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Focus on development

The time has come for all political parties and politicians, especially those holding ministerial positions, to say goodbye to communal and caste-based politics and stop dividing people on the lines of religion and caste. Hate speeches will not reap good results in the long term. The youth of the nation want employment opportunities and good governance. We have to change our views on secularism and concentrate more on development and employment opportunities. If a small nation like Singapore can become so prosperous in a short span of time how can a huge nation like India, with its vast natural resources and youth power lag behind in development? The main reason is we are busy fighting on trivial issues based on caste and religion whereas Singapore took strong steps to curb corruption and invested heavily in education, health and infrastructure. No country can move forward with people fighting over religion and caste. It is time our politicians realised this and stop hate speeches and concentrate on growth.

Veena Shenoy

Thane

No sting

The Mueller report may ultimately end up proving that the US presidency is too big to fail. Even Trump’s brashness may not help breach the firewall around the Oval Office. The report generates no sting on issues covering its specific remit. Trump’s shady financial deals, his Achilles heel, remain unscathed. To Trump’s relief, even as too many people went to jail and a larger number charged by the special counsel, not even one slip of the tongue against him, voilà the President didn’t get his hands dirty, but his team did.

Trump has built up a fanatic constituency and single-handedly controls the flow of support from his vote bank to Republican candidates who need to stay loyal to him. Trump is a modern day autocrat manipulating power through democratic levers.

R Narayanan

Navi Mumbai

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